We are the Survivalists
by ThePrecambrianIdiot
Summary: Burt Gummer has seen it all: Giant worms, heat-seeking carnivores, etc. But what he and Travis Welker never had in mind was an alien encounter that would ensue an unfortunate course of events for not only them, but Steven Universe and his Crystal Gem family. Follow these two teams of survivalists as they team up to stand up against the many forces of nature: organic and inorganic.
1. Close Encounters

**What started out as an entry for a local FanFiction contest became an idea pecking at my mind for months. Normally, I wouldn't write a Fanfic on Steven Universe, but my inner fanboy for Tremors is "defending this story's case. Just a little something to get my mind busy for any other story out of nowhere.**

 **I own nothing, and if you think I do, then go to Hell.**

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"Delmarva, 2400 Hours. One Graboid down, five C4s, two hunters, and enough weaponry to make Hitler piss his pants." An old man reported to himself, sporting long, sand-colored pants below the waist and a green bulletproof vest over a camouflage shirt.

"How many did you say we're out here, pops?" A man wearing all black and a frazzled, spiky hair do asked.

"I told you not to call me that, Travis."

"Whatever, Burt," replied Travis, "just how many Graboids are out here?"

"At the moment," said Burt, "unknown."

Nearly a year after returning from South Africa, Burt Gummer and his long lost son, Travis Welker, have been hunting down beasts all across America. Now, here they are; laying in sniper position on a large rock in a remote Delmarva plain just 5 feet away from their truck.

Their main target, the Graboid, is a ruthless, subterranean monster worm beneath the Earth's surface living for two things and two things only: eat and multiply. The creature's length can reach up to 30 feet (35 in Africa), 6 feet in width, lined with dark spines allowing it to "glide" through the ground, a large, wide upper beak, a thinner lower beak with 2 three foot mandibles, and it lacks eyes.

Burt and Travis really had their work cut out for them. It was the Graboids' time for asexual reproduction, making them more vulnerable and effortless to track. The Graboid on their truck was just laying right in front of them, wailing in pain from the Shriekers about to emerge.

"So," said Travis, relaxing on his back, "this is how the younger generation will remember the legendary Burt Gummer and his son. Laying down on a rock hours on end until we see moving soil."

"A good soldier gathers all the patience he has and endures anything that comes at him," replied Burt, "in order to see the blood of his enemy splattered over his feet."

"You see, Burt, that's why you can't get any friends below the age of 50!" Travis complained, "You're so obsessed with your army days that you can't relate to anyone who uses Instagram!"

"Insta-what?" Burt asked, looking at Travis bewilderingly.

After the ordeals in Africa, Travis became Burt's link to social media. Although he was in his forties, Travis claims that he knows everything about trends and what is on the rise in pop culture. Travis saw Burt's specialty of killing giant monsters would spike interests in all audiences. So far, they went from a rough start, to sufficient.

"We're out here killing Graboids, Shriekers, Ass Blasters, you name it!" Travis stated, "And yet no matter how many pics of our kills go online, we're still stuck with just a couple hundred followers."

Travis took two gulps of water and took out his phone to check their progress.

"This is hunting at its finest, and our followers number is a speck compared to Justin Bieber, Burt," said Travis, "Do you really want to be less popular than Justin Bieber? Or Will Ferrell? Or Michael Bay? And that's pretty low by the way."

"Okay, listen here, Zhuckerberg!" Burt got to his feet and looked Travis in the eyes with irritation staining his, "I've been killing Graboids long before you went to college! I killed my first Graboid with a shot gun so powerful, there was a hole out of its tail big enough to fit George Lopez's head! My great grandfather killed Graboids with nothing but a punt gun, a saw, a train, and assistance from friends he could actually see!"

At that moment, a series of monstrous, wailing cries filled the area. Burt recognized those cries as the sound of a Graboid close to bursting with Shriekers. Travis tossed him his night vision binoculars, getting in position as well. Burt scoped the area for a suffering Graboid and spotted it 50 feet away, partially behind a large rock.

"Tango spotted." Burt said with a grin.

"Ready, old man?" Travis asked, holding a Ruger Mini-14 out towards Burt.

"Not with that." Burt said, disregarding the rifle.

From the small pile of guns behind them, Burt reached for a large, long-barreled rifle.

"A Grizzly One-shot .50 cal BMG!" Travis exclaimed astonishingly.

Locking the gun together, Burt got down to his stomach and aimed at the the middle of the rock to take out both the Graboid and the three Shriekers inside of it.

"It's been a long time, and I don't wanna break my back," said Burt, "So I want you to count to 5, then close your ears. Got that?"

Travis nodded in assurance and began to count slowly to 5. Burt took a deep breath. He has only used this BMG once on a Shrieker, but never sure if he could successfully kill a fully-grown Graboid. However, he was sure of something: if it can't handle a head-on collision with concrete, then it can't survive the force of a shot equivalent to a tank.

"Go back to Hell, you dirt-covered son of a-"

"FIRE!" Travis yelled with his ears covered.

Burt pulled the trigger, and in the blink of an eye, not only the Graboid's head, but the whole rock was blown away! Guts flew everywhere, each belonging to more than just the Graboid. Burt laughed to his heart's content and jumped around in delight! As for Travis, the sound of the blast was more than enough to be heard through his hands covering his ears.

"Jesus Christ!" He exclaimed, still recovering from the sound of the blast.

"That's the sound of a dead Graboid, my boy." Burt gladly described, taking apart the BMG.

"Sweet mother of God, that hurt!"

"Not as much as the Graboid!" Burt cackled.

"Yeah, nice job, Burt." Travis sarcastically told him, "You just blew up what could be the last Graboid out here! Now we have nothing else to get a pic of!"

He jumped off the rock and picked up a piece of the Graboid's beak, "Two dead bodies could've sky rocketed your popularity. One and one hundredth of the hunt equals a minimum amount."

"Hey," said Burt with a careless expression, "At least we solved Delmarva's pest dilemma."

Travis threw the beak in frustration, but heard it bounce off a metal surface. He turned around to find nothing but more guts on the ground. He turned back to Burt whom had the same confused expression.

"Did you hear that?" Travis asked him.

"Affirmative," said Burt as he grabbed a Winchester 1200 shot gun from the pile, "and I don't like the sound of it."

As Burt jumped off the rock, Travis threw another organ; no contact there. Burt followed along and threw two spikes in the same direction, but with no metallic response. They continued to throw organs and any rocks around them until it came to the conclusion that Travis may have mistaken the metal bang for something else.

"Never mind," said Travis, "let's get back to the truck."

Burt gave up as well and turned around to get the guns. He threw an organ back over his head, but this time hearing the metal sound again! He and Travis jerked around to find nothing yet again.

"All right," Burt glocked his Winchester, " now I'm pissed."

He aimed at a completely random direction and took the shot. As expected, the shot was successful; sparks flew off as the bullet made contact. As the sparks flew, the air around it distorted to form a large, invisible sphere. Travis' jaw dropped as Burt's eyes widened. In just minutes, the sphere revealed its color and features. As expected from the distorted air, the object was a large, green sphere with a wide triangular wind shield.

"What, in the name of all that is holy, is that?" Burt asked with an expression and voice being dumbfounded with a mix of fear.

The sphere rotated until the wind shield faced the two of them. Burt and Travis took small steps back so as to not set it off. Glocking his shot gun, Burt was ready to go from Graboid hunter to sharp shooter real quick.

"When that thing gets hostile," Burt whispered, "I want you to run straight to the truck and kick it into high gear."

"Why?" Travis asked.

"Because we'll need more than just guns to take this thing out."

Travis set his sights on the truck; only 13 feet away.

"What are you gonna do?" He asked.

"I'm gonna buy ya some time." Burt revealed two other guns in his pockets and a dagger in his back pocket.

As the sphere's wind shield radiated a neon green light, two panels diagonal from it slid open. Burt held his shot gun close and motioned Travis toward the truck. A pipe-like cannon came from each opening of the sphere, giving Travis a good reason to bolt for the truck!

"Come on, you oversized tennis ball! Come and get me!" Burt yelled, running around the sphere, "170 pounds of pure psychosis!"

Ignoring the fleeing Travis, the sphere turned toward Burt. Each cannon glowed and, with no regards for Burt, blasted whitish green lasers! The old man jumped to the side, allowing the beams to strike the remains of the rock Burt blew up earlier.

"That's more like it."

Burt aimed for the wind shield and continuously fired in the same spot. However, with each shot the sphere remained undamaged. Burt was relentless, though. He didn't stop pulling that trigger until either he or sphere was down on the ground.

Despite Burt's determination, the sphere wasn't about to give up either. The beams kept coming, and it never showed any signs of dropping.

"Come on, come on, come on!" Travis fussed as he struggled with the car keys; Travis was in too much of a hurry to get his hands steady for the key to get in.

Burt's shot gun was finally out of ammo. Seeing the pile of guns back at the rock they left, he bolted towards it! The sphere was hot on his tail and gaining speed; Burt was three steps away from becoming road kill rather than barbecue!

Eventually, the time came where Burt was simply not fast enough. Just as he reached the tip of the rock, the sphere circled around him and pushed him back down to the grass.

Burt panted and panicked as he pulled out his two pistols, "EAT LEAD, YOU COMMIE!"

The gunshots, however, were useless. No matter how many bullets made contact, the sphere slowly made its way forward to Burt. He gritted his teeth and pulled out his combat knife.

"I will break through that wind shield," said Burt, "and pull you straight out to see your murderer! Today, one of us dies!"

The cannons of the sphere emerged and began charging their beams; a finishing blow was eminent. Burt tossed his knife back and forth with eyes intensified. Everything at that moment paused for Burt. He saw himself as a child, listening to his father's stories of the World War. He saw himself turning a BB gun to an automatic in middle school. He witnessed his first Graboid kill, his encounter with a hoard of Shriekers, losing his closest friends, meeting his son; all leading up to this moment. One of them was going to die, but it wasn't going to be the sphere.

"Miguel, old friend," said Burt, in the name of his deceased friend, "see you soon. I'll bring the whiskey."

The sphere advanced with beams ready; Burt stood his ground and raised his knife.

With the sound of a Mexican horn, Burt's truck drove into the scene and slammed into the sphere hard enough to send it tumbling away! Burt looked at the sphere, then back at his truck. After that impact, you could compare the front of the truck to a junkyard vehicle.

"What in God's name was that thing made of?" Burt asked as he got into the passenger seat.

"I don't wanna know," said Travis, "but Burt, we got ourselves a prime time discovery here!"

Travis looked Burt in the eyes, clearly serious about the outcome of this event, "We're talking National Geographic, History Channel, CNN, Facebook, Twitter, the whole web! This'll be bigger than Graboids, Burt!"

"I don't care about the fame, all I care about is getting out of here before that thing gets back in the air!"

"I hit it at 80 miles per hour, dude. I think it's as good as de-"

Before Travis could finish that thought, something slammed into the side of the truck! Travis looked at through his window and saw the source. A worm-like tentacle with razor-sharp teeth broke through the window with a shriek! Two more emerged and bit down on Travis' arm, causing him to grit his teeth in pain.

"Grabbers!" Burt yelled.

He tossed Travis his pocket knife and climbed out of his window to get to the back of the truck. Travis sawed through the length of two of the tentacles as Burt shot the last with a pistol. Normally attached to the mouths of Graboids, no Graboid seemed to emerge after the tentacles were taken care of. But that was the least of their problems.

"How come every time there's a moment of peace, we get attacked?!" Travis exclaimed.

"We're not in the clear yet," said Burt, pointing north of the truck.

Travis stared out the wind shield to see their favorite little sphere. This time, however, it got an upgrade. While it still hovered as usual, 4 detached limbs diagonal from each other kept the ground contact. It looked like it was feeling nimble, too; it dug into the ground with one frontal limb and tapped the ground with a rear limb.

Burt looked at the inventory of the truck to find that the only weapons left were pistols, sniper rifles, one AK-47 (much to his disappointment), and low-powered bombs. Burt took one more glance and widened his eyes in surprise. Underneath the side of the mounted, dead Graboid were 5 C4s. He pushed the Graboid as hard as he could and took two C4s and the custom control pad he uses for all his explosives.

"Get in close!" Burt said through the back window.

"Are you crazy?!" Travis exclaimed back.

"I have a plan!" Burt replied as he set up the control switches.

"Is it suicide?!"

"No," Burt grasped the two C4s, "just plain demolition."

Travis turned on the ignition and floored it. The sphere dashed forward, too, ready for a head-on collision. Both Burt and Travis knew the truck couldn't survive another hit to the hood from the sphere, so this plan had to be full-proof.

Burt winded up his arm with one C4, "LEFT!" He yelled.

When it looked like a collision would occur, Travis jerked the wheel left, avoiding the sphere. Burt threw the C4 to the sphere's side and shot one of its limbs to piss it off.

"Circle around! Circle around!"

Travis made a hard right until they were at the other side of the sphere. Burt threw the other C4 to that side and shot frontal limb. It continued rotate, looking close to tipping over. Travis turned the wheel like crazy, making donuts in the process. Burt struggled to stay on, lucky to have the Graboid's body to lean on.

"Blow it to kingdom come, Burt!" Travis yelled in excitement.

"Not yet." Burt picked up another C4 and waited for the sphere to stop rotating.

As soon as the sphere faced them, Burt threw the C4 as hard as he could. It landed right in the center of its triangular wind shield. Control pad ready, Burt had his fingertips set right onto the three switches of the C4s.

"Go to Hell, you green dough ball." Burt flipped the switches all at once.

In less than a second, the three C4s beeped created a blast big enough to smash the windows of the truck and send Burt flying off the back! There was hardly any debris left except for the 4 limbs standing without anything to hold. Travis rose up from the bottom of his seat and stared at the dust and smoke floating around the area of the blast.

"Burt!" He called out, "Burt, where are you?"

Travis heard a groan coming from far behind and recognized it to belong to the old veteran. He opened the door and ran towards the aching Burt on the ground. He was right on top of the three Grabbers they killed earlier, but they didn't do much to break his fall.

"Jesus, Burt! That was just 3 C4s!" Travis exclaimed, "How was the blast that strong?! It was like two thirds of a freaking nuke!"

"Clearly," Burt coughed, "you underestimate the company I get my supplies from."

He put his cap back on and their the three Grabbers onto the truck.

"Hold these for me, will you?" He said as he hung his sunglasses on the one of the Graboid's hooked mandibles, "Thanks."

"Where do you think it went?" Travis asked.

"That, I do not know," said Burt, "but I've got a feeling it'll be back."

"Back? Back from that?" Travis asked unbelievably, "Burt, that was a blast big enough to take out a hoard of Graboids! How could you possibly think that thing would come back?"

"I thought I could kill every Graboid on the day they attacked the entire town with nothing but high-powered dynamite. Didn't work." Burt explained with nostalgia, "I thought I could get my colleagues and me out of Tijuana by killing a Shrieker with a BMG. Ended up penetrating the engine of our only vehicle 60 feet away. I thought if I destroyed my food supply, the Ass Blasters would starve to death, but the bastards' metabolism was too great for consumption! I even thought the African life cycle of a Graboid was just like the American species, but I was wrong!"

Burt put on his cap and looked Travis in the eyes with seriousness, "Every. Plan. Can. Be compromised!"

Travis leaned on the side of the truck, exhausted from the series of events. Burt joined him and took a sip of a Bud Light he brought along.

"Should we get your guns?" Travis asked, pointing at the pile of guns they left at the rock.

"Negative," replied Burt, "With what we're dealing with, we'll need more high-powered weapons. Even something a little stronger than a BMG."

"You don't think there's more of those green spheres, do you?"

"If so, then we'll need to fall back. Any sign of that thing fully operational, we evacuate to the nearest provisional stop. We were never here. Any word of a crater in the fields of Delmarva, we keep our mouths shut, kapish?"

Travis nodded in agreement. Once they left for the doors, however, a large ball fell straight down 20 feet from where they were!

"Speak of the Devil." Burt said, p99 handgun locked and loaded.

The two of them slowly walked around the truck, Burt holding his p99 and Travis grabbing a C4 and the control pad. The sphere wasn't its natural roundness anymore. The blast from the C4s left it looking like the outline of a crumpled piece of paper. The cannons fell out in halves, the world d shield had a humongous crack going down the middle, the sides of the sphere looked as though they'd disintegrate, and the bottom was dropping dust like sand in a giant hourglass!

"You really did a number on it, Burt!" Travis quietly said.

"That's just the capsule. Who knows what happened behind that wind shield." Burt replied.

Their steps were as quiet as a rabbit in a backyard. The sphere maybe be down, but their encounter with the Grabbers meant a Graboid missing its three tongue-like tentacles could still be in the area. Soon, they got close enough to the sphere to touch the wind shield. Travis slid his hand across the glass until he made his way to the triangular tip at the bottom. He felt an edge, meaning it could be opened. He looked at Burt, whom was staring at the tip of the wind shield as well. Burt nodded and pressured his fingernails to the opposite side of the glass. Together, they clawed at the edges and lifted the glass open.

The interior of the sphere was dark, but still easy to make out. There was a dashboard and the whole thing was filled with a strange liquid that was far different than water. Burt attempted to touch the liquid, but it fell right through his palm (literally).

"This is some... Far out alien crap right here!" Travis exclaimed.

"I don't understand." Burt said, worryingly, "It moved as if someone was controlling it. This thing can't be autonomous!"

It was then that the two of them heard a series of heavy breathing from the back of the sphere. Burt aimed his handgun, but Travis put his hand on it, pushing his arm down. He poked his head into the sphere and looked closer into the back.

"Hello?" Travis said, "Anybody there?"

There was no response, just more breathing. In an attempt to get a response, Travis took Burt's gun and dropped it to the ground.

"Hey!" Burt complained.

"If it sees us armed, it'll think we're a threat!" Travis said.

"We threw Graboid parts at it, I shot its vehicle with a Winchester 6 times, you rammed into it with the truck, and I blew it up with three C4s!" Burt explained thoroughly, "I think we're far from peace at this point!"

"You CLODS!" The being at the back yelled in a scratchy female voice.

Burt and Travis turned back to the sphere to see a small ball if green light. Burt knew very well how this would turn out and tackled Travis out of the way. The ball was projected and flew right by them and past the truck at 50 miles per hour!

"Wanna continue being a hippie?" Burt asked rhetorically.

The two of them quickly got up as Burt picked up his p99. They made a run for the truck, but halfway there, something stopped them in their tracks.

"Refrain!"

Burt and Travis' eyes widened as their legs went stiff.

"Now rotate 180 degrees and drop your weapons!"

Burt and Travis complied and turned to face their assailant. Burt dropped his p99 and raised his hands. Now that they could see the attacker, it was clear that the sphere's color was no random paint job. Judging from their assailant, it was made accommodate her. She was lime green in skin color, wearing a V-neck with a dark green outline and a regular green base. Her hair looked similar to the sphere's wind shield, only a paler shade of green and more of a tetrahedron shape rather than a triangle. Her eyes and forehead were covered by a opaque, green visor. On her forehead was a triangular gem known as a peridot. The strangest details about her, however, were her green limbs. Her legs looked more like the legs of a robot attached to the thighs of a human and her arms were similar in color but, starting at her elbows, were wider than an average arm. Her fingers were detached, yet they functioned well and acted as the blaster pointed at Burt and Travis.

"What in God's name are you?" Burt asked.

"That is none of your concern." She replied.

"Listen," said Travis, "we didn't mean to destroy your..."

Travis tried to find a word to identify her mode of transportation. Every word he tried to think of came out as stammering statements.

"Escape pod." The woman confirmed.

"That's the word!" Travis exclaimed, "Yeah, that's it! That's the one. You got that covered. Heh..."

The woman's face went from weighty to an unbelieving expression. Burt shook his head in embarrassment and sighed. Travis was sweating like a runner in Summer as he stared at the charging green ball on the person's "fingers." Burt has been in many situations involving being at gun point, but never before has he had to face something more powerful than a tank. He looked down at his handgun; too risky to grab it, though. If Burt was to so much as to put his hand down, he'd be the first human to be killed by an energy ball.

"I don't know what you two are, but what I do know is that you can easily be labeled as a threat." She took a step forward, making a metallic sound, "You destroyed my escape pod, and I just so happen to have contact with Yellow Diamond. That means eradication for you! Unless you have information on the biology of this planet's inhabitants and their ecosystems, I have no use of you."

The tip of her "fingers" glowed brighter as the ball of energy grew larger.

"Please tell me you went to college." Burt whispered to Travis.

"I thought you did!" Travis whispered back.

Burt had to think of a way out of this situation. She wanted information on Earth's living things, and the closest thing he and Travis had to that info was info on the monsters they hunt. That was when Burt found his silver lining! Knowing the tentacle-less Graboid would most likely still be in the area, he was right when he said one of them was dying today.

'It's either you or me, E.T.' Burt thought to himself.

"If it's biology you want," said Burt, "I'm your man."

"Man?" She asked.

"Never mind that," Burt put his hands down and began explaining, "I happen to know of a certain creature that even someone like you would **love** to hear about."

The woman lowered her arm with a calmer face, "Proceed."

"Now, this creature, commonly known as a Graboid, is a 30-foot long, spined worm." Burt paused when he saw the person tapping on a holographic monitor formed by the width of her fingers' combined perimeter.

She looked at him confusingly before she knew he was staring at her monitor, "Oh, I'm simply recording the information. Carry on."

Travis slowly took a small step back, only to be glared at by the tetrahedral-haired woman. He returned to his original spot and looked at Burt.

"Graboids are...herbivorous Precambrian life forms. Been on this planet longer than any other creature." Burt could hear the sound faint beeping from the truck.

That faint beeping came from his small old television modified to sense any disturbance in the Earth's crust. The beeping meant that a Graboid was in the vicinity, and close, too.

"They primarily eat vegetation and are quite friendly creatures." Burt added.

"Fascinating." The woman said, unamused.

"Burt, are you serious?" Travis chuckled quietly.

"If you want, you can get a close-up look," said Burt, "Just stomp the ground and you'll get their attention!"

Travis stopped chuckling and stared at Burt fearfully. The woman, however, did as instructed; she stomped her foot, making a metallic sound with each stomp. Travis tried to stop her, but Burt stopped him.

"Trust me," said Burt, "it's either her or us."

"So what, you're gonna just let her die?!" Travis quietly exclaimed.

"I don't see how this is working." The woman grunted through each stomp.

"Don't worry, Graboids are subterranean. They live underground." Burt explained.

"This ritual to summon them seems very inoperab-AAAH!" Before she could end her statement, something from under the ground surfaced and clamped its humongous jaw around her leg!

"Right on time." Burt said.

With the woman's leg in its jaws, the Graboid dug back into the ground and accelerated forward, dragging her with it. The lime green woman screamed frantically, firing an energy ball at the ground to no avail. Meanwhile, Burt and Travis ran to the back of the truck to get a better view of the situation.

"Let go of me, you subterranean clod!" She screamed.

"Burt, what do we do?" Travis asked.

"Witness history in the making," replied Burt, using his binoculars, "Alien vs. Graboid"

The blasts proved inefficient as one of them penetrated the ground, but left nothing but a small burnt mark on the Graboid's skin. This caused irritation to the monster worm. It "dived down," dragging the woman's mid section underground. Soon after, it resurfaced with enough force to throw her into the air!

"Help! Help!" She screamed.

The Graboid stayed above ground and threw its head up, roaring with jaws open! The woman fell down, head first, and witnessed her death. Her eyes widened as she screamed and fell into the Graboid's terrifying jaws! There was nothing left of her but her legs sticking out of the Graboid's jaws. They were kicking back and forth, trying to get free. In a matter of seconds, the legs disappeared into the Graboid; it was finally over.

Burt lowered his binoculars and breathed a sigh of relief. Once again, Burt Gummer has escaped the grasp of death at the cost of another person's life. After everything that had happened, long before the sun had even risen, Travis struggled to process all that had happened, fainted, and landed on the back of the truck.

The Graboid spat out the alien's limbs, detachable fingers, and the gem that was previously on her forehead. With that out of its stomach, the Graboid burrowed underground and departed, likely to return one day.

"Adios, Short Tongue." Burt said, tipping his cap.

Burt jumped off the truck and walked towards the area where the regurgitated materials were. His curiosity was peeked. A Graboid could eat nearly anything edible and only spit it out when it knows it's a dangerous material. The alien's limbs may not have looked natural, but she had perfect control of them and moved them as if they had nerves. What reason would the Graboid have to spit them out?

Burt picked up one of the limbs, but was astounded to find that it was hollow! The fingers remained on the ground rather than following the arm, and when he picked them up they felt like test tubes. The interior of the arm attachments were only wide enough to fit over Burt's wrist and the leg attachments looked like they could barely fit over his foot.

"She must have been one short alien," said Burt, "How does she control these?"

He picked up the "fingers" and stored them in the arm attachments, picked up the leg attachments, and kicked the gem along as he walked towards the truck.

"Guess I can earn a fee hundred bucks with this gem." Burt said.

He threw the attachments onto the truck, hearing a groan of pain in return. Travis sat up to find the attachments on his stomach and threw them off.

"What the Hell happened?"

"Well, after our green friend got eaten back there, ol' Short Tongue back there spat these out." Burt bent down and picked up the peridot gem, "And this, too."

He tossed the gem to Travis and reached into the truck for his camera.

"Short Tongue?" Travis asked.

"The Graboid." Burt confirmed, "Stumpy was the first officially named Graboid.. Figured since we chopped off our hungry buddy's tongues, I should give it a name."

Once Burt found his camera, he attached it to a tripod and set it a few feet behind the truck. He made sure it got a good view of their dead Graboid mounted on the truck.

"Get in the shot, Travis!" Burt said, "Bring those attachments, too."

Travis jumped off the truck, holding the attachments, and walked in front of the Graboid. Burt set up the camera. The thought of the series of events that had just happened left his head.

"You can transfer this photo to your phone wirelessly, right?" Burt asked.

"I know a guy." Travis replied, "But Burt, this story's gonna be big! Forget about Graboids, this generation is all about aliens!"

"Once this story gets out," said Burt, putting the camera on lapse, "everyone will be asking questions."

"Are you ready for anything that'll result from this?" Burt asked.

Travis glanced at the gem and the attachments, thinking about the story that'll reach the press. 'Dirt Dragons and Green Aliens' raced through his head back and forth. He couldn't stop thinking of what might happen, but he looked at Burt and nodded with a confident expression. He steadily set the attachments at the edge of the truck and gave Burt the gem.

"Someone's gotta present the gem. Age before beauty!" Travis chuckled.

Burt grinned and held the gem with his thumb and index finger. The two of them smiled at the camera, Travis doing the shaka next to the dead Graboid's head and Burt giving a thumbs up while presenting the gem.

"Like father," said Burt.

"Like son," said Travis.

"Out on the prairie,"

"Killing Graboids for fun!"

"Burt Gummer,"

"Travis Welker,"

"If we see you, you run!" They both finished strong.

Snap!


	2. Somewhat Subterranean Gems

**This 2nd chapter was meant to show that this is a dead-on Tremors/Steven Universe crossover. Of course, I'd love to hear some constructive criticism. It'll really help out with future chapters.**

* * *

"E-9?" Asked a stocky boy with curly black-brown hair.

"You...sunk my battleship!" Exclaimed a dark skinned girl in glasses and suspenders.

"Yes!" The boy cheered with the girl laughing along with him.

This young, spirited child happened to be Steven Universe. Sporting a pink T-shirt with a star in the middle and pink sandals, he's a Crystal Gem who saves the ones he loves with the powers he acquired from his mother and alongside his closest friends. With him at the moment was his good friend, Connie Maheswaran. Despite looking like an average girl, she was practically a master of swordsmanship!

Currently playing Battleship on a bench at the beach, they had a whole day free to do anything.

"This game's better than I thought it would be," said Steven, "I just think it would be simpler if the battleships just worked it out and made peace."

"It wouldn't be so simple." Connie replied, "An act of war can't reach a peaceful solution without at least a few deaths."

"Oh." Steven said, a little downcast by this information.

"C-3?" Connie asked.

"Miss."

Connie picked up a white missile piece and inserted it into the C-3 coordinates. Not much has changed since Steven and his friends saved the world from the Cluster. The whole ordeal was kept secret, even to Connie. The citizens of Beach City went on without knowing a cluster of thousands of gems nearly formed and destroyed their world. Garnet told Steven that if anyone were to know, People would panic and not be able to process this info.

"So how's Peridot?" Connie asked, "Heard you guys were building a drill."

"Yeah, we did. But it was for...construction." Steven replied.

"Steven, drills are for excavation." Connie corrected.

"Right! It was ex...exc...exavation!"

"But what would you and the gems need to excavate for?" Connie asked.

"A-7?" Steven asked.

"Miss."

"We just needed to fight this...underground monster gem!" Steven stated.

"You mean like that light-eating worm monster you defeated when we first met?"

"Something like that." Steven replied, breathing a sigh of relief; his secret was safe.

"B-8?" Connie asked.

"Hit!" Steven enthusiastically replied.

"Steven!" Came the voice of a male teenager.

Steven and Connie turned around to see a large, male teen wearing glasses, a buttoned shirt with flaming outlines, short beige pants, green sandals, and hair similar in shape and color to French fries. He was running towards them waving his phone in the air. He looked as excited as a kid in a candy store!

Once he made it, he paused to catch his breath. The run from the fry shop to their bench really had it on him.

"Ronaldo!" Steven exclaimed.

"I have to show you something!" Ronaldo said excitingly.

He scrolled on his phone until he found what he was looking for. He gave it to Steven, a large smile on his face.

"Dirt Dragons and Green Aliens." Steven read aloud.

"Oh, that's the title of the newest article on the boardwalk's newsstand!" Connie remembered.

Steven looked at the article's picture. There was an old, mustached man with a cap, a camouflage shirt under a bullet-proof vest, and khakis and another man wearing all black and frazzled, spiky hair. Behind them was a 30-foot long monster with what looked like a beak!

"Woah!" Steven exclaimed, "What is that?!"

"It's a Graboid!" Ronaldo enthusiastically explained.

"A what?" Connie asked.

"Wait, are you telling me that neither of you know what a Graboid is?!" Ronaldo asked, surprised by their lack of this knowledge.

The two kids shook their heads.

"These are Precambrian life forms that move through the ground like underground sharks! They prey on everything! Bulls, sheep, cows, wolves, coyotes, and humans!"

Connors and Steven stared at Ronaldo fearfully after that last part of the list. Ronaldo noticed this and emphasized Steven to scroll down.

"You won't have to worry about 'em though." Ronaldo reassured, "There just so happens to be two expert hunters wiping them out!"

"Perfection Valley resident, Burt Gummer, and his Florida son, Travis Welker, save the National Guard a lot of time by exterminating majority of Delmarva's newest pests: Graboids." Steven read the article aloud.

"These guys kill Graboids?" Connie asked, looking at the article.

"It says here that it's their specialty," said Steven, "But how do you know so much about Graboids, Ronaldo?"

"I follow their blog!" Ronaldo replied, "They post all their kills, from Shriekers to Graboids!"

Steven continued to read the article until he found a section that really peeked his interest. This section specifically mentions the green alien mentioned.

"Look at this! New heroes have also claimed to have encountered an extra terrestrial being with a tet...tetrahedronal head! Lime green in color, it attacked the hunters right after their second Graboid kill. First, an attack from its currently damaged sphere, then a close-up threat and attack by the alien itself! Burt Gummer states that he had tricked it into getting the attention of a Graboid in the...How do you say this word?"

Steven gave the phone to Connie and pointed at the word. She looked closely at it.

"Vicinity." She confirmed.

"A Graboid in the vicinity." Steven continued, "The alien was then attacked by a Graboid and consumed. The only remains left were it's 'limbs' and a gem that supposedly belonged to the alien...gem?"

Steven scrolled back to the picture. He zoomed in to get a good look at what was in between the two men. Like the article said, there were limbs, but they looked exactly like Peridot's! As if things were weird enough, the gem mentioned was held by Burt Gummer, and it was the same gem as Peridot's!

"Oh my gosh!" Steven exclaimed.

"What is it?" Ronaldo asked.

"That gem..." Connie said, looking at it and remembering the one on Peridot's forehead.

"I know right! Graboids and aliens! That's two paranormal discoveries!" Ronaldo exclaimed.

"Should we tell the gems?" Connie asked Steven.

He nodded and gave Ronaldo his phone back. As the two of them ran to the temple, Ronaldo continued to scroll on his phone. Right when he was about to read more about the Graboid kill, his phone rang with his father's name on the screen. Ronaldo groaned and answered it.

"Yes, dad?" He asked, "No, I was just-Dad, I-Peedee did what?!"

Further down the beach, Steven and Connie made it to a large statue morphed to a cliff. It had four arms and two faces; one looked toward the sea while the other was set atop of the former, looking toward the sky. They walked up wooden steps and came to the front of a wooden home built into the temple. Steven opened the screen door and ran for his phone he left on the counter.

"Garner! Amethyst! Pearl!" Steven called out.

Connie joined him on the counter, "The article was 'Dirt Dragons and Green Aliens.'"

As Steven searched up the name, turned his head once in a while to call the gems' names. He heard the bathroom door open and turned to find none of the three gems, but his lime green friend, Peridot. She was only a little bit taller than him, had tetrahedronal hair, wore a V-neck outlined dark green and a base of regular green, and her feet looked as if she was wearing green socks.

"It's just me today, Steven." She replied.

"Peridot?" Steven asked confusingly.

"Correct," said Peridot, "Lapis wished for some privacy, and seeing how this place is the only other dwelling I'm aware of, I chose to remain here until it is necessary."

"What were you doing in the bathroom?" Connie asked.

"Unclogging Steven's porcelain seat." Peridot replied dully with a cringe.

"But the toilet wasn't clogged when we left." Steven said.

"Precisely. I simply wanted to see what other purposes it had besides your...business." Peridot stated with another cringe, "Apparently, it can't dispose of multiple items without overflowing."

She walked over to the counter and looked at Steven's phone.

"Whatcha doin'?" Peridot asked nonchalantly.

"Oh, Peridot!" Steven exclaimed, remembering what they were here for, "You have to look at this!"

He gave Peridot his phone once the article was done loading. She stared at the picture for several minutes with a confused look and gave Steven his phone.

"I see humans everyday, Steven. Simply adding a large beast behind them won't make them any more interesting to me."

"No, this!" Steven zoomed in on the limb enhancers and peridot gem.

Peridot took another look, this time with eyes widened, "These look like my limb enhancers! And my gem!"

"The article says a Graboid attacked an alien matching your description." Connie told her.

"It says they destroyed its escape pod, too," said Steven, "Do you think Homeworld sent down another Peridot?"

"Judging from the picture and description," said Peridot gravely, "Yes. But that optical reflector on the escape pod is much different than mine."

Peridot frowned, "And knowing she was consumed by this creature must mean she wasn't given the proper tools."

"But aren't all limb enhancers the same?" Steven asked.

"Negative," replied Peridot, "They come in different variations. I happened to come equipped with enough fire power to penetrate even the most durable of Earth's landforms. This Peridot must have been given Homeworld's obsolete models made mainly for stunning enemies."

"You got all that from the article?" Connie asked.

"It's simple analysis."

"Wait," Connie took the phone and scrolled to the bottom of the page, "it says here that for more information, we can call the guys who killed the Graboid."

"What does the number say?" Steven asked.

"255-5BMG."

"...What?" Steven and Peridot asked with puzzled expressions.

"The letters represent numbers on a key pad. Just type in the first 4 numbers, then finish with 264." Connie informed.

"2...5...5...5...264." Steven said as he entered the number.

"Who are those humans?" Peridot asked, picturing the two men in the article again.

"Burt Gummer and Travis Welker." Connie replied, "Apparently, they hunt these underground worm monsters called Graboids."

"These... 'Graboids' don't look like gems." Peridot said.

"I don't think they're gems," said Steven, still waiting for the other line to pick up, "when I read about their first kill here, the Graboid didn't poof. It died for good."

"It's sad." Connie said.

"How?" Peridot asked.

"Well, wouldn't you be sad if you saw me or any of the gems destroyed?" Steven asked.

Peridot pondered this question for a while. Eventually, Steven knew he had to give her some time on that question. The phone rang for a few seconds, but the call was finally answered. Steven didn't know how to respond, so he gave Connie the phone.

"Why me?" She asked.

Steven shrugged as Peridot gestured for Connie to continue the call.

"Hello? Is this the number of Burt Gummer and Travis Welker?"

"Travis speaking." Steven heard the man say.

"I was hoping I could get more info on the alien you two encountered." Connie gave Peridot and Steven a thumbs up once she sealed the deal.

Steven and Peridot couldn't hear much of the call after that, but Connie was able to make out at least segments of the story.

"Uh huh...Cloaking? **And blasters?** " Connie asked, amazed by the description of the attack, "Was she green with hair that's sort of shaped like a triangle?"

"Yeah, and she had kind of a somewhat scratchy voice." Travis replied, "How do you know?"

"Just a wild guess." Connie responded, rubbing the back of her head.

Connie and Travis exchanged more dialogue, switching topics from the Graboids to the alien. Connie was so fascinated by the Frankie information, however, that she actually started taking notes. Only after Connie wrote two pages worth of Graboid notes did they return to the Peridot information.

"How did the Graboid attack her, though?" She asked.

"Burt said it came out of nowhere! It just... popped up and grabbed her leg." Travis explained, loud enough for Steven and Peridot to hear, "It dragged her around with little effort. From what Burt told me, it got pissed off when she kept shooting it with that blaster of hers. It finally threw her in the air and devoured her, spitting out her...limbs, or whatever these things are, out."

"Ask him about the gem." Steven said.

"What about the gem you and Burt found afterward?" Connie asked.

"We are currently unaware of that information," came an old voice on the phone, "However, we have Intel of a town near the coastline that can provide us with the information we need."

"Coastline?" Steven asked, "Does he mean Beach City?"

"Do you mean Beach City?" Connie asked.

"Affirmative."

"Great! Because my friend happens to have the information you need." Connie said with a smile, "Mhm...Hm...Yes sir. Here you go Steven."

Connie gave Steven his phone and leaned close to hear the call. Peridot leaned in so close that the side of her head touched the phone itself. Steven noticed their anticipation and put it on speaker phone.

"Why didn't I think of that?" Connie asked with her hand over her forehead.

"Hello? Burt?"

"Are you the friend with the gem information?" Burt asked, "Heh, say that five times fast."

"Well, I know that the gem you found belonged to the alien you saw." Steven confirmed.

"That has already been established."

"You said the monster spat out her limbs and gem, right? Nothing else?" Steven said.

"Yes, indeed," said Burt, "Strange, too. Graboids consume anything that moves and breathes."

"Burt, that wasn't just any alien." Steven said, "She's an advanced gem from the Gem Homeworld."

Steven received no response after that. He coughed a few times to show he was still there, but Burt still didn't respond.

"Son, you are not making one damn bit of sense." Burt finally replied.

"Her name was Peridot!" Steven said in a tone as serious as he could, "And she wasn't killed, she's just trapped in that gem you found!"

"Impossible," said Burt, "Even if she's from another world, there's no plausibility of any living life form to disappear into an object this small."

"Except Houdini." Travis said in the background.

"Shut it, Travis." Burt scowled.

"Burt, I wish I can tell you more, but it's too complicated to explain." Steven said, "But my friends can explain this a lot better. You can come down to Beach City and meet them! They'd be happy to tell you all about it...Well maybe except Amethyst."

"And why would I have drive all the way down to Beach City when I have the source on my son's phone?" Burt asked.

"The Gems have all the information you need. They're the only ones who can help you at this point."

There was a long pause on the phone. Steven, Connie, and Peridot looked at the phone, waiting for a response. Peridot tapped the counter with her finger repeatedly, Connie doing the same.

"Very well," said Burt," We'll be there at 1500 hours tomorrow."

"What?!" Steven exclaimed, "1500 hours?! That is way too long to be tomorrow!"

"Steven, that's army talk for 3 o' clock." Burt said.

"Oh..."

"Later." Travis said as the call came to an end.

"That went well." Connie told Steven.

"I guess." Steven replied.

"Friend with gem information. Friend with gem information," said Peridot, "Frieverformation! GAH!"

Connie got off the chair and walked to the door, "I'd better get going. My mom hates it when I miss lunch."

"You want me to call her?" Steven asked.

"No, there's a payphone at the edge of town."

She waved good bye and left. Steven checked the article again and read through it. Peridot continued to twist her tongue saying "friend with gem information," but he didn't mind that now. They may not be gems, but Steven had a feeling that these Graboids had a connection with gems.

"Peridot," said Steven, "were there giant worms in any part of Gem history?"

"Well, we did have encounters with corrupted light-consuming gems." Peridot explained, "But they were far longer and thinner than these Graboids."

"But were there like, any records of a Graboid in gem history?" Steven asked.

"No...Well, there was this one file in the Kindergarten mentioning a sighting of a creature with these features." Peridot informed.

"We should probably check it out," said Steven, "the article says only majority of the Graboids near the area are gone, so there's probably a few of them lurking around."

"We can't be sure if the information relates to these 'Dirt Dragons,' however." Peridot said, feeling uncertain, "It might just be a coincidence."

"It's worth a shot."

Steven packed his Cheeseburger back pack while Peridot repeated Burt's tongue twister. He went over to his pink lion and caressed his mane.

"I'll be back, Lion." Steven assured, "There are lion lickers in the fridge."

Lion looked Steven in the eyes and went back to sleep. With a smile, Steven hugged Lion and went over to the warp pad.

"You ready, Peridot?"

"Ready." Peridot replied, "As long as we don't hold hands."

* * *

The Kindergarten sure hasn't changed since their last visit. The walls of the valley were still littered with holes and the whole area was filled with virus-like drills. Peridot led the way toward square hole made by one of her plug robonoids a long time ago. They slid down the hole until they found themselves back in the underground chamber. The green, hexagonal room was still in tact and just one bridge away.

"Friend with gem information. Friend with gem information. Friend with gemformation-RRGH!" Peridot grunted.

"What if a Graboid is some sort of gem mutant?" Steven asked.

"Not likely," said Peridot, "If Homeworld wished to create cluster prototypes, they wouldn't settle for a limbless worm."

Once they reached the room, Peridot activated the control panel. The screens around them showed hybrid gemstones fused together. Peridot searched through all the files as Steven gazed at the cluster gems.

"As you can see, the only information left in this old system is on the Cluster. There's nothing about these Graboids you keep talking about." Peridot confirmed.

Steven joined Peridot at the control panel. He looked through the files as well, but couldn't understand the gem language.

"What if we just look through these gem stones?" Steven suggested, "We might find something that looks like a Graboid!"

"Steven, it's not that simple!" Peridot said, clearly irritated, "It's not like anyone can just find a specific item they're looking for! This isn't a search engine. It's not like searching through every single cluster gem file is gonna help find the Grab-Oh, would you look at that."

After a few seconds searching through the cluster gem files, Peridot found an image of a gem mutant resembling the Graboid in the article. Steven looked at it with awe. The gem was similar to a Graboid, only its skin color was a darker shade of brown and had a spike protruding out of the upper part of its beak.

"I can't believe it!" Steven exclaimed.

"Neither can I," said Peridot in agreement, "It says that they were a mix of Basalt and Sandstone. Together, they created a sort of drone-like prototype."

Peridot accessed more of the information and read aloud to Steven.

"These cluster gems were used primarily to take out ground gems and destroy their bases from underground." Peridot zoomed in on the gem's sides, showing its spines.

"They were able to propel through the ground with these spiky touch stumps."

She opened another photo of the gem, but with its jaws open, "Like an Earth vegetation life form, it pops out of the ground and opens its jaws to devour and destroy other gems."

"So, a Graboid is actually part gem?" Steven asked.

"No, no," Peridot answered, "They were the original life forms of which war time gems were inspired to create these prototypes. These prototypes weren't as efficient as their predecessors, however. They were obsolete and proved inefficient during the war."

Peridot deactivated the control panel and stretched her arm. The images around the in the control room disappeared and the whole place returned to its dark and desolate state.

"Alright, I think we've found what we needed." She said, walking back to the entrance.

"Wait, but why haven't we seen any gem mutants like that?" Steven asked, following behind.

"Negative," replied Peridot, "We couldn't dispose of them properly, so we sedated each prototype. To this day, they lay dormant."

Reaching the edge of the hole, Peridot felt something strange as she grabbed the edge. Whatever it was, it felt leathery. She frowned and felt around some more; what she felt next was something similar to the first. Her face slowly turned anxious as she grasped the object. Peridot felt three segments going down that object and as her hand went up, it felt as of the object was taller than expected.

"You alright, Peridot?" Steven asked.

"I'm trying to get a good grip," replied Peridot, "but's there's something in the way."

She continued to get a better grip, but eventually it led to punching and slapping a beak-like material.

"What is this?" Peridot asked with a small hint of fear, "An Avian species I'm unaware of?"

"Let me help you up." Steven offered as he lifted her with his shoulders.

At a higher height, Peridot could finally climb out the hole easier. However, now Peridot could see what she was touching earlier. The stout biped opened its quadruple-hooked beak and shrieked!

Peridot screamed and nearly fell back, but the creature lunged forward and clamped its jaws over her arm and lifted her onto the ground! Peridot struggled to get her arm free but to no avail.

"STEVEN! HELP!" She screamed.

"I'm coming!" Steven called back.

He lifted himself over the edge to find a horrible sight. A short-tailed creature made of a color palette of gray and orange blotches. Its head lacked eyes and grew narrower going down and every time it opened its jaws to bite Peridot, the top beak separated from the thinner bottom half and hooked mandibles. It was three-toed and only about as tall as Steven. The most distinguishable feature was a hybrid gemstone jutting out of its snout.

"A gem mutant!" Steven exclaimed in fear.

"Use your bubble or shield or anything!" Peridot panicked, trying to pry open and push the creature's head off her arm.

Steven summoned his shield and threw it at the creature's head. Unfortunately, all the shield did was bounce off its head.

"Aw," said Steven in disappointment,"I thought I had it!"

The creature slowly turned its head to Steven. Peridot rolled out of harm's way, but looked at the gem mutant with fright. A frill lifted from where its eyes should've been, revealing luminescent tissue. It "stared" at Steven for several minutes before closing its frill. It walked up to him and extended a long, glowing prehensile tongue toward Steven's face.

"Feel my wrath!" Peridot yelled as she ran towards it with a rock.

She slammed the rock over its head and pushed it on its side. Seeing that its tongue was still out, Peridot dropped the rock on its tongue closest to the mouth. It shrieked from pain and twisted left and right to break free. Steven looked at it confusingly.

"Let's get out of here," said Peridot, "There might be more of these mutants in the vicinity!"

"Wait, Peridot," replied Steven, "Look at it."

Peridot went next to Steven and stared at the creature with discomfort. Its shrieks of pain turned into whimpers and moans. Steven felt sorry for the little creature, and could see its pain was more overbearing than it looked.

"We can't leave it like this." Steven confirmed.

"Are you serious?!" Peridot screamed in disbelief.

"The longer I watch it like this," said Steven, "the more I can feel it staring right through me."

"Steven, it lacks optical spheres, so I doubt it can 'see' through you." Peridot said.

"It didn't look like it was gonna hurt me," replied Steven, "but it hurts me more to see it in this much pain."

With long, deep breath, Steven walked over to it slowly and pushed the rock aside. Its tongue lost its glow and appeared mutilated at the middle, close to tearing off after all the creature's twisting and turning. Steven licked his hand, raised it high in the air, and set it down on the creature's tongue. He heard a small yelp from the creature, but it soon began to calm itself. Peridot stared over Steven's shoulder and watched as the healing took place.

The tongue slowly returned to its natural glow and soft tissue replaced the ripped parts of the tongue. In a matter of minutes, the creature was able to move its tongue freely and efficiently.

"Don't worry," said Steven as he caressed its head, "It's all better, now."

"Good, can we get out of here, now?" Peridot said out of annoyance.

"You were just a little cranky, huh?" Steven asked, petting the rising creature's head, "Not used to coming out of the ground, are you?"

It was then that Steven realized the similarities of the creature's head to the Graboid gem mutant; similar beak structure!

"Peridot! I think this is the prototype!" Steven exclaimed.

"What?!" Peridot ran behind Steven and observed it from there.

It may have at least 7 times smaller than the original prototypes, but its head was a dead ringer. She frowned and kicked a rock to its side.

"After all calculations to make the perfect killing machine, thousands of years later we get this pint-sized mistake!" She groaned.

The creature growled at her, knowing we'll aware of her spite for it. Peridot walked back down the path they took to the warp pad complaining about the Graboid prototype's regression.

"Huh, look at ya," said Steven cheerfully, "I thought you were gonna be this giant monster, but now you're small enough for me to pet!"

The creature extended its tongue and began licking Steven's face. He chuckled in approval and got up to go.

"I wish I didn't have to leave, but I've got responsibilities at home." Steven waved good bye, "Stay safe, little buddy!"

He walked for at least a few feet before hearing foot steps behind him. He saw the creature standing in front of him the same distance they were a few seconds ago. He took a few more steps, but the creature's steps continued in unison with his. He turned his head to it and lifted his foot; it lifted its own foot in response. He slowly took another step, then another step back; it did the same.

"Oh," said Steven, "you wanna come with me?"

The creature dug its foot into the ground with glee. As happy as Steven was to have another gem friend, he thought about what the Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl would say, especially Garnet and Pearl.

"I wish I could, but I don't know how the gems would react to me bringing home another gem creature." Steven said with a downcast expression.

The creature put its head over Steven's shoulder and whimpered. Steven hugged it, his expression even sadder than before.

"I don't know what to do!" Steven said through small amounts of tears, sadly thinking of how lonely it'll be when he's gone.

"I want to go with you, Steven!" Steven said through a scratchy voice on behalf of the creature.

"Really?" He said, looking the creature in the face.

"I love you, Steven!" He said with the scratchy voice, "I want to follow you and your friend!"

Steven's smile grew wide as he hugged the creature again. It licked his back in return.

"Steven!" Peridot shouted from the warp pad, "Quit embracing that mistake and get to the warp pad!"

The creature growled again, but Steven calmed it by caressing its back.

"Don't you worry, Li'l Bud," said Steven reassuringly, "You can stay with us as long as you want."

It licked his face again and walked by his side to the warp pad. Once they got there, Peridot backed up in fear of being attacked.

"Are you actually bringing that...thing with us?" She asked with concern.

"It's not a thing, it's Li'l Bud." Steven replied.

"You're not actually implying that just because you healed it means it feels affection for you, are you?"

"It licks me like a dog would," said Steven, "so that's a start!"

Peridot sighed before the warp pad activated. As soon as they left, however, the ground unsettled. One by one, gem stones similar to that of the Graboid prototype and Li'l Bud's started emerging around the Kindergarten.

* * *

 **If you like the story so far, follow or favorite it if you want because there's a lot more to come.**


	3. Good First Impressions

**Hey guys! I know it's been forever, but don't get confused. This isn't a new chapter, but rather an edit. However, I will be updating this story sometime this month, so be on the look out for that. Writer's block is a pain, but I'll try my best.**

* * *

Using Burt's Cargo truck, Burt and Travis were just an hour away from Beach City. Travis checked the inventory through the sliding window behind him. Only now did he realize Burt stocked up on every gun you could imagine a retired soldier to have: AK-47s, M182s, Grenade Launchers, RPGs, Mini-guns, M16s, literally every gun Burt could either afford or retrieve from his gun wall at home.

"Holy crap, Burt!" Travis said with disbelief, "Getting ready for World War 3?"

"I don't know, are you getting ready for a shooting for the next Jaws movie?" Burt asked sarcastically, noticing Travis' Summer beach clothes instead of his usual leather jacket.

"We're going to a city that's literally named for its greatest feature," Travis put his hands behind his head with a relaxed expression, "The ocean."

"This town also happens to have a history with paranormal occurrences." Burt reached into his pocket and took out a crumpled document.

He gave the document to Travis and continued to drive. Travis skimmed through it; he chuckled as he reached the end.

"You actually made a list of every disaster that happened in Beach City?" Travis asked with a chuckle, "You even listed what weapons you should bring on the back!"

"I have to accommodate for each possible situation. Record number 13: A blue humanoid alien formed a tower out of pure H20. Guess where she emerged." Burt pointed at the document a few lines up, "Record number 7: Teenager nearly burns the whole beachside boardwalk after consuming fire-inducing pastry. Record numbers 1 to 6: A giant centipede attacks the beach, humongous puffer fish threatens to blow away the town, a God damn red ball in the sky blew up and destroyed the boardwalk!"

"What's this about a giant hand?" Travis asked, pointing at a picture of a giant green hand with a question mark next to it.

"I wish I knew," replied Burt, "Folks around here say it came out of nowhere. The town had to be evacuated in case of a hostile take over."

"Just a little off subject here," said Travis, "Did we really have to bring along the Shrieker?"

True to his word, a Shrieker was in the back of the truck. A stout little gray biter with no eyes but a beak-like jaw. Mixing with its gray pigment were red blotches getting redder around its neck and behind. It was tied up in a cage, struggling and panting to break free.

"Consider him a pet," said Burt, "Found him dazed in Perfection and kept him binded since then."

"How's he still alive?"

"He's the reason no rats get into the food supply." Burt said, pointing at a rat tail in front of the cage.

"Yeah, by eating some of the supply while he's at it." Travis looked at the Shrieker with concern. Had that bondage been removed, it was just a tongue's reach from the food.

Travis stroked his chin and took a sip of his Dos Equis. He's lived in Florida for as long as he can remember, but he's always had the chance to visit Beach City a few times. However, Travis never saw anything bad about the town. He hung around with a man named Greg. In fact, Greg was the closest thing Travis had to a friend before leaving.

"You know, it'll be great going back." Travis said, "I used to visit Beach City with my aunt every other month. The plane ride was alway turbulent as Hell, though."

"Oh really?" Burt asked, sounding as carelessly as he could be.

"You know, I was a big deal back in Beach City," Travis bragged, "Everywhere you look, you can hear someone talk about me as positively as rednecks feel about Trump."

"Oh, so I'm a redneck, now?" Burt asked, clearly offended.

"Oh no, I didn't mean it like that!" Travis apologized.

"Quit your worrying!" Burt chuckled, "I hate that bastard."

The road split off from the suburbs and entered a road surrounded by fields. Burt took a bite out of his MREs and offered one to Travis.

"No thanks, Burt," Travis refused, "I'm not used to food that comes in tin foil."

"Come on, it's protein!" Burt insisted, "You need it, or else you'll end up like me in the 80s; scrawny."

"You still look scrawny." Travis noted.

"And you still look ridiculous in that beach shirt." Burt replied.

"I'll settle for the Beach Citywalk Fries," said Travis, "And maybe some donuts or Fish Stew Pizza."

"Fish on pizza," Burt grimaced, "Worse than eating manure on bark in the war."

"Yeah, well at least it's better than eating African Graboid meat."

"Oh please, you didn't complain when you ain't that earth worm!" Burt said.

"I didn't complain because I was still grossed out by the fact that a little girl tricked me into eating a worm!"

After 10 minutes, they could see a town by the ocean over the horizon. It wasn't too big nor too small; a perfect catalyst for peril. The town's quiet atmosphere was clashed by the roaring engine of Burt's Cargo truck. People on the street rushed out of the way as Burt carelessly drove right by.

"Slow down, Burt!" Travis exclaimed, gesturing for people to move out of the way, "Try not to kill anyone!"

"This vehicle wasn't built for cruising," replied Burt, "It was made for off-road terrain and running over Shriekers and Graboids."

Travis rubbed his forehead in frustration. His strain vanished the moment he saw a building with a sign that said "Fish Stew Pizza" on a giant metal pizza slice.

"Burt, park over there!" Travis told him.

"Why?" Burt asked.

"I haven't eaten in an hour," relied Travis, "I need a pizza."

"You're not still going on about that fish piz-"

"Come one, Burt! I haven't eaten here since high school!" Travis protested.

Burt sighed, but he knew Travis wouldn't stop bugging him about this pizza place. He turned the wheel and entered the parking lot of Fish Stew Pizza. He gave Travis 30 dollars and 50 cents.

"Make it quick." Burt said.

"Burt, this is a handicapped spot." Travis said, looking at the blue parking spot below them.

"If anyone asks," said Burt, "I have arthritis."

Travis grinned and opened his door. Once he opened the glass door of the restaurant, he took a deep, satisfying breath. The tables were empty except for one teenager in a red polo, glasses, and French fry-like hair using his laptop. At the counter was a dark skinned teenage girl wearing an apron and her hair in a bun.

"Hello, sir," said the girl, "How can I help you?"

Travis walked to the counter and looked at the menu. There were many different choices, but only one caught he eye: a large cheese pizza with sardines.

"Yeah, can I get a large cheese pizza with sardines?" Travis requested.

"Large pizza with sardines!" The girl yelled softly to the back.

"Scaled or tuned?" The voice of an old woman called back.

"Tuned?" The girl asked.

"Why? You can't tuna fish!" The old woman said in a joking tone.

"Oh Nanefua!"

Travis sat at the closest table and checked his phone for any updates.

"Haven't seen you around here, mister," said the girl, "Are you on vacation?"

"Oh no, my dad and I are just on a business trip." Travis replied.

"Business trip?" She asked, looking at his clothes, "In a tropical shirt and short khakis?"

"Plain-Folks Appeal." Travis replied.

An old woman with her hair in a bun came out with a pizza box and rang the bell.

"One large cheese pizza with sardines." She said.

"How much do I owe you?" Travis asked.

"How much ya got?" Asked another teenage girl coming out from behind the curtains.

"Jenny!" The first girl grunted, glaring at Jenny.

"What?" Jenny said in a laid-back way, "Just helping the business."

"Please excuse my sister, sir. She doesn't know how to properly talk to customers." The girl said, emphasizing the last part of her statement.

"I've got 30 bucks," said Travis, "how's that?"

"Sold!" Jenny exclaimed, giving Travis the pizza and taking the thirty dollars.

The first girl sighed and withdrawed twenty dollars from the register.

"Is your dad the guy smoking on the side of that army truck out there?" She asked, pointing outside.

Travis looked out the windows to see Burt leaning on his truck smoking a cigar.

"That's my old man." Travis said.

"Hey, ain't that the old man on the newspaper?" Jenny asked, leaning over the counter.

"Hey Ronaldo!" The first girl called the boy on his laptop, "Come look at this."

Ronaldo looked away from his laptop and gasped in excitement. He stared at Travis with amazement and jumped out of his seat.

"TRAVIS WELKER!" Ronaldo shouted ecstatically.

Travis raised his hand confusingly. Ronaldo ran to him and shook his hand with a huge smile on his face.

"Ronaldo Fryman. Huge fan of your work!" He said after calming himself slightly.

"Oooh, I thought you looked familiar!" The girl said, "You're that guy who killed that Dirt Dragon...or whatever you call it."

"Graboids," said Travis, "and nice to meet you, man. Good to see a kid of the Fryman family."

"You know about the Frymans?!" Ronaldo gasped.

"Of course. I happen to be friends with the owner of one of their shops." Travis replied.

"Wait," said Ronaldo, "If you're here, then that means,"

Ronaldo looked out the window and saw Burt smoking his cigar and reloading a p99. Ronaldo's legs shook violently as his eyes widened. Travis waved his hand in front of Ronaldo's eyes.

"You alright there, buddy?" He asked.

"It's alright," said the girl, "He follows anything on the internet involving paranormal stuff. He's pretty hyped about you and your dad's accomplishments especially."

"I have to get a picture with you guys!" Ronaldo exclaimed.

"I can get Burt in here, but he doesn't like fish on pizza." Travis explained.

"What?! He doesn't like what?!" Came the voice of an intimidating man.

A man wearing a green shirt under an apron with his hair held up by a hair net came out of the curtains with a cleaver. His eyes were narrowed to a near permanent frown as he opened the counter door. He stared outside at Burt and raised his cleaver.

"That man will eat a fish pizza and he will like it!" He said angrily.

"Kofi! Let the man be!" Nanefua demanded.

Kofi opened the door and walked right up to Burt.

"You! Smoker!" Kofi shouted.

Burt turned his head to Kofi with an indifferent expression. He puffed out some smoke and put out his cigar.

"If this is anything about my parking space, I have arthritis." Burt said, making it look as if he was in pain all over.

"Your joint pain is of no concern here!" Kofi shouted, "You will enter my shop and a fish pizza!"

"Oooooh no!" Burt said, getting angry, "I don't know who you think you are shouting at the top of your lungs, but I draw the line if you think I'm gonna eat something covered in dead fish!"

"You claim to hate it, and yet you haven't tried it!" Kofi exclaimed.

"I sure as Hell know it'll be the same as every other pizza joint putting fish heads on pizza slices!" Burt replied, eyes narrowing.

"You cannot park your war machine in my parking lot unless you plan to eat a fish pizza!" Kofi exclaimed.

"And you can't yell at a veteran unless you're either an Infantry Sergeant or his nagging wife!" Burt exclaimed back.

"This ain't good." Travis said, pocketing his change.

Burt and Kofi continued their quarrel for a near hour. People began gathering around not too close to the two, but close enough to hear their argument. The argument eventually escalated to angry gestures and interrupting shouts. Knowing this wouldn't end quickly, people started getting bored and left.

"I think I'll just eat here." Travis said, setting the pizza down on his table.

"Kiki, get the nice man some napkins." Nanefua told the first girl.

"I know this may be unconventional to you," said Ronaldo, holding out a note pad, "but this just seems like the right time. Can I interview you?"

Travis sat there eating a pizza slice and nodded. Ronaldo squeaked with glee and had his pencil ready.

"Is this what you do on your spare time?!" Burt asked Kofi angrily, "Shout at people who don't eat your God for saken food!"

"Is this what you do on your spare time?!" Kofi responded even louder, "Smoking a cigar and driving giant brussel sprouts!"

"I'll have you know that I can tear down your shop with this baby in just eight minutes!" Burt threatened, "I was in 'Nam! And I freaking loved it!"

"Oh, so just because you are an army man means you have the right to threaten me?"

"No, I think it's because you're a hollering Communist that I have the right to threaten you! You can go to Hell you little crap!" Burt exclaimed.

"Take your truck and leave this parking lot!" Kofi demanded, "You are officially banned from Fish Stew Pizza!"

"I don't need to eat your trash! Literally anything on this planet is better than fish on pizza!" Burt emptied his pockets and threw each item he had at Kofi's feet, "MREs! Jerky! Heinz Ketchup!"

Burt walked around to the back of his truck, "In fact, I can cook up a better frittata from the head of a Shrieker! Just you wait, 'cause I've got a 120-pound meal ready to be chopped and coo-"

Once Burt opened the tarp concealing the back of the truck, he found the cage of the Shrieker torn open and the ropes cut! His eyes widened in fear as he jerked around and stared at the ground. Kofi peeked into the truck and laughed.

"Where is your frittata, huh?" He asked through cackles and laughs.

"What are they doing now?" Nanefua asked.

"I don't know, but daddy's sure getting a kick out of it." Jenny replied.

"Mr. Welker," said Kiki, "your dad looks pretty down in the dumps out there."

Travis looked away from Ronaldo. He saw Burt staring at the ground with eyes widened and got out of his seat after consuming his third slice. Leaving the shop, Travis walked toward Burt and put his hand on his shoulder.

"Burt, what's wrong?" Travis asked.

"Look in the truck." Burt replied.

Travis did as he was told and peered into the back of the truck. Everything was accounted for: the guns, the bombs, a laughing Kofi next to him...but no Shrieker. Travis jumped into the truck in a panic, looking for the Shrieker! The Shrieker may not have been there, but the driver's seat was open. The cage was way too durable for a Shrieker to break through and the ropes looked as if they were cut, not snapped. The driver door was open and somehow, the assortment of weapons was organized by size.

It was then that Travis reached a conclusion, "We've got ourselves a Shrieker thief!"

"Travis, get in the truck," said Burt, "If that Shrieker is anywhere near a food source, this town's screwed!"

Travis got into the passenger's seat as Burt ran for the driver's seat. Kofi was far from over, however. The restaurant owner charged in front of Burt's window and shook his fist.

"Stop! I believe an apology is in order!" Kofi exclaimed.

"It's alright, just don't let it happen again." Burt replied.

"I didn't apologize!" Kofi shouted.

"You know what, you're right," said Burt, turning around to look Kofi in the eyes, "I'm sorry for your loss."

"Loss of what?" Kofi asked with a glare.

"Of your sanity." Burt replied before getting in his truck.

The roar of the engine came alive again! Ronaldo, Kiki, Jenny, and Nanefua ran out to see the Cargo truck backing out of the driveway. Ronaldo took out his phone and took several pictures of the truck and Kofi yelling at it in the process.

"Wait!" Ronaldo yelled, running at the truck with his phone in the air, "I have to get a picture!"

The second Burt and Travis could be seen from Burt's window, Ronaldo took as many pictures as he could before Burt frowned at him in each frame to stop. Ronaldo was relentless, though. He didn't stop taking pictures, eventually causing Burt to hit the gas pedal and race out of the parking lot! Ronaldo coughed from the dust but still had a wide smile from all the pictures he got; in high quality, too!

"This is definitely going on my blog!" Ronaldo exclaimed, running down the street.

"Should we tell him he left his laptop?" Kiki asked.

"Nah," Jenny responded, "He'll be back."

"I hope that old man does, too." Nanefua said, "If he can argue with my son like that, I may have found you girls your new grandpa!"

"Nana, you too funny!" Jenny laughed.

Back at the temple, a beam of light emerged from the warp pad. From the light, Steven, Peridot, and Li'l Bud appeared. Peridot jumped away from Li'l Bud, still afraid that it might attack her again!

"Keep that thing away from me!" Peridot exclaimed.

"Come on, Peridot," said Steven, "If you treat Li'l Bud like a monster, she'll act like one!"

"She is one." Peridot frowned.

Lion walked past Peridot and curled at the edge of the warp pad. Steven caressed Li'l Bud's neck and jumped off the warp pad.

"I wonder what the gems will think of you." Steven said.

Peridot walked to the counter and sighed, "If it's like how they first thought of me, then Li'l Bud will be in a little trouble."

"I'm sure you'll be fine." Steven reassured Li'l Bud.

He heard the screen door open and stepped in front of Li'l Bud to hide her. A stout, purple woman rivaling Steven's height stuck half of her body into the door. She wore a white tank top which appeared to be connected to her purplish pants, two black stars on her knees, white boots, and a purple gem stone on her chest.

"What up, Steven!" She exclaimed.

"Amethyst!" Steven replied.

"Hey P-Dot."

"Amethyst." Peridot responded.

"Guess what Steven!" Amethyst said, "You wanna see something cool?"

"You bet I do!" Steven exclaimed, now struggling to keep Li'l Bud behind him.

Amethyst walked back outside for a few minutes. She talked excitedly with a taller woman outside. They sounded pretty excited for Steven's surprise. First, Amethyst poked her head in.

"Ready to meet your new pal?" She asked.

"Can't wait!" Steven replied.

"Good, because we just found it where you'd least expect it!" The taller woman said as she walked in.

She was at least twice Amethyst's height, pale in color, wore an aqua blue tunic-leotard with a star in the centre and a light satin sash around her upper waist. Her nose was pointed and so did the end of her hair. She also wore amber-coloured leggings and pink socks within blue ballet slippers. Her grin was as big as Amethyst's.

"Pearl stole it from an old guy's truck." Amethyst said.

Pearl grunted while glaring at Amethyst.

"I freed it from its captivity," said Pearl, "I saw Mr. Pizza arguing with this old man and saw something rustling in the back of his truck."

"It seemed pretty docile once I freed it," Pearl continued, "And since I know how much you care about wild animals, I decided to bring it to you."

Steven was sweating just keeping Li'l Bud back. Pearl and Amethyst looked at each other with large grins as Pearl slowly open the door wider.

"Hey, he's got a pretty cool hat, too!" Amethyst said.

Opened all the way, the door revealed a Burt and Travis' Shrieker with its frills up. Once it saw Steven, it shrieked and ran towards him!

"RUN!" Peridot screamed, jumping over the counter.

The Shrieker was just a few feet away from Steven before Lion got up and smacked it back with his paw! He growled at the Shrieker, but it shrieked at him in retaliation.

"Don't you dare touch Steven!" Pearl yelled.

She whacked the Shrieker across the room with her spear as Amethyst slammed it back down with her whip! It shrieked in pain, but stood its ground. Peridot threw multiple items at it from the counter, not having any effect.

"I'm running out of weapons!" Peridot exclaimed, throwing a cup of coffee.

The hot coffee spilt all over the Shrieker's face; steam came off it as it licked its face. It backed up as its prehensile tongue wiped off the scalding liquid. Steven and the gems watched it continue to lick the coffee off its face until it bumped into the fridge. Turkey and mashed potatoes fell out, making the Shrieker open its jaws wide enough to consume the entire turkey!

"The turkey!" Steven shrilled.

It stopped eating the mashed potatoes midway. The Shrieker's thorax behind the sides of its head grew larger and wider. It started breathing intensely, opening its beak wide and clamping it back down. Pearl pointed her spear at it, Amethyst readied her whip, and Peridot winded up for another coffee throw.

"Steven, get behind us," said Pearl, "It might be getting ready for another attack!"

"I think I'll stay here." Steven replied, keeping Li'l Bud's head down behind Lion.

"Steven, I am not asking you! I'm telling you to get behind us!" Pearl snapped.

Before any more objections, the Shrieker regurgitated a blood-stained egg; Steven nearly barfed.

"Aw sick!" Amethyst exclaimed.

"Is it a bomb?" Peridot asked, poking her head above the counter.

Two legs elongated from the back of the egg, similar in shape to the Shrieker. The round end of the egg grew into a stubby point and the tip of the egg grew larger and wider. The Shrieker gently bumped the egg back and forth until a small Shrieker head finally broke free! The Shrieker shed its bloody shell and stood upright next to its producer. Side by side, the baby Shrieker was one-fourth the size of the adult Shrieker.

"She's a mom!" Steven gasped.

"The smaller one's getting larger!" Peridot noted.

The smaller Shrieker was indeed growing larger by the second. In just a minute, it was half the first Shrieker's size yet its shriek was identical.

"I've had it with all this shrieking!" Amethyst yelled.

She put both her hands over her gem and pulled out two whips. She threw her arms back then thrusted her whips forward. Both whips wrapped around the Shriekers, allowing Amethyst to pull them forward and twirl around. Gaining enough momentum, Amethyst let go of the two of them and sent them flying out the window!

The Shriekers landed roughly on the porch, but ran down the stairs knowing food here was dominated by a stronger force.

"Amethyst! What were you thinking?!" Pearl exclaimed.

"What? They're gone, right?" Amethyst replied.

"Yes, but now they'll be looking for more food," said Pearl, "and where do you think they'll look first?"

"Come on, what are a couple of birds gonna do in town?" Amethyst questioned, "Empty out all the restaurants?"

"More like empty out the population! You saw how the first one reacted when it saw Steven!" Pearl snapped.

"Well I'm not the one who broke that monster out of its cage!" Amethyst snapped.

The two gems continued their argument, neither backing down from the fault. Peridot glanced at Steven and Li'l Bud hiding behind Lion. She tilted her head at Pearl and Amethyst twice, but Steven shook his head. Peridot nodded with a serious face. Minute 2 into Pearl and Amethyst's argument, Steven knew they had to know eventually.

He walked beside Lion and brought Li'l Bud along, too. He coughed twice to get Amethyst and Pearl's attention; it failed. He tried it again, but it failed once more.

"Guys!" Steven said in a louder tone.

The two gems still continued to argue.

"GUYS!" Steven shouted.

Pearl and Amethyst looked at him and gasped when they saw Li'l Bud next him.

"Steven! Get away from that thing!" Pearl exclaimed, holding her spear.

"Wait, don't hurt her!" Steven said, guarding Li'l Bud with his hands outstretched to the sides, "She would never hurt anyone!"

Peridot was about to object to that statement, but Stven looked at her with pleading eyes to not mention their first encounter. She frowned and crossed her arms. Before Steven could say anything else, Li'l Bud's frill opened up. Pearl and Amethyst grimaced at the underside hidden by her frills. Li'l Bud shrieked and stomped foot repetitively!

"Li'l Bud, no!" Steven exclaimed, holding her back.

"I knew it!" Pearl exclaimed.

Pearl charged up the end of her spear, creating a ball of energy at the tip. She aimed it at Li'l Bud, hoping to get a one-shot blow.

"Steven, get out of the way." She ordered.

"Please, Pearl! She's my friend!" Steven pleaded.

"She's one of...them!" Pearl responded.

"She's different than those other ones," said Steven, "I swear!"

Steven looked at the ravenous beak of Li'l Bud and shed a tear.

"Why are you acting like this?! You were so calm and friendly before!" Steven exclaimed.

Li'l Bud paid no attention to this and started pushing through Steven's hold. Steven wasn't giving up, though.

"I cared for you! I healed your tongue!" Steven looked at Pearl's spear then back at the voracious Li'l Bud, "I made you my best friend."

Though she lacked an ear, Steven's last statement echoed in her head. She slowly closed her beak and backed up. Steven caressed the back of her head and smiled.

"You don't have to be the monster you were made to be." Steven said sincerely.

Pearl stopped charging her blast and stared at Steven and Li'l Bud.

"What gives?! Get rid of it!" Amethyst exclaimed.

"Steven actually calmed it," said Pearl, "It just...doesn't seem right to stop a friendship like that."

"Ugh, you sound just like Garnet!"

"Thank you." Pearl said, looking at Steven and Li'l Bud again.

"You're not gonna destroy it?" Peridot asked once she walked up to Pearl and Amethyst.

"No." Pearl responded.

"Thanks guys," said Steven, "for giving Li'l Bud a chance."

Pearl frowned at Amethyst; Amethyst shrugged and gave them a thumbs up. It took Peridot longer, but eventually she accepted Li'l Bud's company by giving a thumbs up. Steven smiled and opened his arms wide for a group hug.

"Group hug!" He exclaimed.

Before they could group hug, the warp pad was activated. Once the light disappeared, a squared-haired, cerise colored woman appeared. She had an amaranth-colored star with a soft pink outline on her chest, oval-shaped, dark orchid colored shoulder pads, and pale blue and soft pink shades. Her right half was a vivid blue-violet stocking and her left half was a deep orchid colored stocking.

"Garnet!" Steven exclaimed.

"Am I too late for the group hug?" Garnet asked with a grin.

It was nightfall, but Burt and Travis still couldn't find the Shrieker. Seeing that it was too late to go looking for it, they sat next to the truck feeling downcast. They searched the entire town, from Fish Stew Pizza to the Boardwalk, and still had no luck!

"This town is screwed, we're screwed, everyone's screwed, Burt!" Travis exclaimed, "We let a Shrieker loose into the city!"

"Alright, that's enough!" Burt shouted, "First of all, we didn't let it loose. Someone stole it. Second of all, as long as it has no food source, we're safe for now. If it gets anywhere near Fish Stew Pizza or Beach Citywalk Fries, we'll there to annihilate that little bastard!"

"I didn't wanna come back like this, man." Travis said, "I didn't wanna come back to Beach City just to put it in danger! I just wanted to have a few fries, do some fishing, and maybe even run for mayor!"

"You could've done that when we went to California for a Jimmy Fallon interview!" Burt replied.

"I wanted to do those things in the town I love!" Travis responded, "And I wanted to do them with you, Burt."

Burt and Travis looked down sadly. Burt took a sip of Bud Light and gave it to Travis. Travis chugged down half the can but stopped when he heard the sound "May-or Dewey" getting closer.

"Oh crap, get rid of it!" Travis exclaimed, giving the can to Burt.

"Why?"

"I've got a good reputation with the older folk here, Burt. If the mayor finds out I'm drinking, who knows what'll happen!" Travis replied worryingly.

Burt threw the can inside the truck and waved kindly at Mayor Dewey's van.

"Talk about conceited," said Burt, "This asshole's truck has his giant head on top."

Mayor Dewey parked his van behind Burt's truck and walked out adjusting his tie. He was balding and had beige collared shirt underneath a light violet-gray coat and had chocolate-brown pants.

"Evening, gentlemen." He greeted them.

"Evening, Mayor Dewey." Travis said.

"I hate to bother you two," said Dewey, "but I'm afraid you can't park a vehicle of this size on the boardwalk without a permit."

"I was about to say the same thing, but then I realized your van's head was a permit on its own." Burt replied blandly.

"Excuse me?!" Dewey exclaimed, "Do you know who I am?!"

"A balding man?" Burt replied.

Mayor Dewey covered his forehead and pointed at Burt angrily.

"Burt, why do you always have to start something with someone who tells you what to do?" Travis complained.

"Because I am a man of war. I only take orders from actual authority."

"Well I happen to be the mayor of this city," said Mayor Dewey, "And I demand that you move this hunk of junk off the boardwalk or I'll-"

"Or you'll what?" Burt interrupted, glocking his p99.

Mayor Dewey backed up with his hands up, "I-I-I don't want any trouble, sir!"

"Really? 'Cause it didn't sound like that a minute ago." Burt said.

"Okay, Burt! That's enough!" Travis intervened, pushing the gun down, "Please excuse my senile father, Mr. Mayor."

"Senile?" Burt questioned.

"Really?" Mayor Dewey asked.

"Yeah, ol' Burt didn't take his medication this morning, now he thinks he's still in Vietnam." Travis continued, "Tell ya what, we'll get this our truck onto the beach if you just tell us if you've seen this around here."

Travis took out a picture of a Shrieker and gave it to Mayor Dewey. Mayor Dewey observed the photo while stroking his chin.

"Haven't seen anything like this around here. Why?" Dewey asked.

"No reason." Travis replied nervously, "Just some safety precautions."

Mayor Dewey stared at him blankly before giving him back the photo.

"Just get this truck off the boardwalk." Mayor Dewey said.

He went back to his van and drove away with his name on the Mic repeating over and over again. Travis pocketed the photo and turned to Burt.

"You seriously need to control your temper." Travis said.

"Control my temper?" Burt questioned, "So far I've met a crazy old man yelling at the top of his lungs and a mayor who told me I couldn't park without a permit! Who needs a permit to park in a place like this?! And I don't know about you, but once I kill that Shrieker and get the information we need on that alien we found, I'm driving straight back to Texas!"

"Listen, it's seven o'clock and you've already made bad ties with the mayor," said Travis, "As long as we're here, I don't want your attitude clashing with Beach City's friendly atmosphere."

At that moment, the sound of toppled metal trash cans came from around the corner. The noise continued, this time with windows breaking.

"Friendly atmosphere, huh?" Burt doubted.

He took an AK-47 from the inside of his military truck and Travis took a Micro Uzi. They walked stealthily down the boardwalk, but the creaking of the wood didn't help their case. Once they reached the corner of Beach Citywalk Fries, Burt motioned Travis to get behind him.

"Bought this back in Delaware," Burt took out a tarp-like jacket and put it on, "A thermal cloak. Capable of hiding body temperature between 97 and 102 degrees F°."

"Nice!" Travis exclaimed quietly, "You have a spare?"

Burt's expression turned guilty, "I didn't think you'd want one."

"Burt, we hunt Shriekers and Ass Blasters every other week! How could you not think I'd want one?!" Travis asked unbelievably.

Burt shushed him and slowly walked around the corner of the shop into the alley. Travis trailed close behind, finger close to the trigger. Burt poked his head past the wall and retracted with a sigh of relief. He took one last step and jumped to the entrance of the alley.

"Hands in the air, ya hoodlum!" Burt yelled.

A small, round-bodied boy with an ascot, pale yellow upright hair, and a white shirt with red pants turned around with a blank expression. He was holding a baseball bat and just finished bashing metal trash cans and glass bottles.

"Put the bat down, and nobody gets hurt." Burt negotiated.

Travis poked his head past the wall and widened his eyes.

"Burt, don't point a gun at a kid!" Travis exclaimed.

Burt dropped his gun and looked at the boy reassuringly.

"I promise I won't hurt you," said Burt, "Just put down the bat, and we'll drive ya back to your house. How's that sound?"

The boy kept his hands on the bat with his blank expression still in place. Travis threw his gun to the side.

"We're friendly, guys, kid." He assured the boy, "No need to be afraid."

As Burt got closer, the boy finally put the bat down. He stared at Burt with a small smile, causing Burt to smile back.

"That's more like it, champ! Now let's get you back home."

As soon as Burt said that, the boy ran under Burt's legs and straight for the alley's entrance. He grabbed Travis' Uzi and ran down the boardwalk! Travis looked at Burt then at the boy running down the boardwalk bewilderingly.

"Don't just stand there!" Burt exclaimed, "Get the kid!"

Travis and Burt ran as fast as they could, passing the truck and into the sand just to catch the little boy.

With the two of them preoccupied, the truck was left unattended. Footsteps could be heard behind it, then the sound of something boarding the truck, and finally crunching. Two Shriekers have just helped themselves to Burt's MREs. Heavy breaths came from the Shrieker, then the sound of regurgitation. In a matter or minutes, four Shriekers left the truck and ran for the beach.

"I can't believe I just got that on video!" Ronaldo exclaimed from a bench a few yards from the truck, "Exclusive Shrieker replication!"


	4. From Bad to Worse

**Holy crap, it's been forever since I updated this story. Literally the day it was published, I was able to get three chapters up and that's when writer's block hit me. I'm glad this story got a little support, though. I just wanna mention a few things besides the fact that I'm glad that I got this story up before New Year's.**

 **I'd like to thank you guys for your reviews and support. You guys keep me going.**

 **I'd also like to thank my roommates for collaborating with me on this one. They were a big help.**

 **Glad to see that Steven Universe is still kicking and making its mark in cartoon history.**

 **I'm sooooooooo friggin' excited for Tremors 6. You would not BELIEVE how!**

 **Anyway, before I drone on any longer, the rights to Steven Universe belong to Rebecca Sugar and the Crewniverse and the rights to Tremors belongs to Universal Studios and Don Michael Paul.**

* * *

As short as Onion was, the boy was indeed faster than Burt and Travis. Even with the gun in his hand, he managed to outrun the two men. Sweat drenched the survivalists' shirts, their legs aching from excessive strain due to chasing Onion and searching for the Shrieker prior to the situation. Burt lagged behind as Travis advanced further in an attempt to get a jump on the kid.

"I got him! I got him! I got him!" Travis repeated as he closed in on the boy.

Seeing how Onion was a few feet away, Travis took one last step before lunging forward. Burt smiled at the thought of the chase finally ending. Travis had his eyes locked on Onion the entire time off the ground.

"Get him, sonny boy!" The elder survivalist yelled, his voice ripe with joy.

However, much to both of their disappointment, Onion took a drastic turn to the right and advanced forward. Travis groaned in exasperation before his body met with the sand. Burt frowned in disappointment and took a breather next to his sand-covered son. He watched the child run around the corner of the cliff face, glaring all the while.

Travis lifted his head from the sand and groaned, "I hate kids."

"Welcome to my world." Burt replied, taking part in the chase once again in a jog. Travis was not too far behind after hopping off the ground. After rearing the large corner of the cliff, the two of them stopped to witness a sight one of them couldn't believe.

In front of them was a colossal, worn down statue of a woman with multiple arms. Each set of arms held its own pose either outstretched or conjoined. To make the giant stone maiden anymore peculiar, its head wore two faces. One gazed at the sky, laying upon the other like a mask. Judging from its condition, the colossus was able to stand the tests of time.

Burt marvelled at the statue with his jaw agape. Never before had he seen such a magnificent structure.

"Holy mother of mercy," said Burt in a low, amazed tone.

Travis shared this feeling of wonder, but in a slightly different way.

"Holy shit balls," said Travis in a similar volume and tone, "it's still here!"

"What?"

Their train of focus was averted to the sound of a few small murmurs coming from several meters in front of them. The two survivalists noticed that the boy they were chasing was sitting on a noss-covered rock with the Uzi in hand. As if to aggravate them even further, Onion stuck his tongue out faintly, receiving a small glare from Travis.

"I'm gonna slam this kid!" He said through gritted teeth.

"At ease, Travis," said Burt, acting as the voice of reason, "maintain a non-physical, negotiable relationship with the locals."

"Oh, like you and the pizza guy?" Travis retaliated.

"That was non-physical."

"Whatever!"

The younger of the two sprinted forward with determination in his eyes. Onion hopped off the rock, gun in hand, and zig-zagged across the sand. Burt watched the event play out like a cat and mouse and game.

"Couldn't be Nevada," said Burt, "had to be freaking Beach City."

* * *

"Then she just attacked me for no absolute reason!" Peridot exclaimed, thoroughly explaining the events that occurred prior to the Shriekers' attack, "Had it not been for Steven averting her attention from my forearm, I wouldn't be able to have subdued the beast with a boulder."

At the sound of "beast," Li'l Bud growled at the green gem but was immediately calmed by Steven. As this explanation went down, Pearl had been busy on the chalkboard. As soon as Peridot finished, Pearl dragged the chalkboard over to the living room and gestured to the drawings and labeled features of Li'l Bud and the Shrieker that was previously in their home.

"Okay, here's what we know," she began, "both creatures lack eyes, arms, and ears. Yet, they somehow manage to sense their prey in a way unlike any other monster we've faced."

"They lift their weird skin thingies." Amethyst added, motioning a rising movement with her hands from her forehead.

"Infrared sensors," Peridot corrected, "that's why that thing became hostile towards Steven! It can see his heat signature, but is completely blind towards us!"

Amethyst nodded, but knew none of what half what she said meant.

"In a way, Li'l...whatever… must only be prone to sensing the light emitted by our gems," Pearl analyzed, "As she is docile towards Steven but hostile to us."

"But Steven _has_ a gem," said Amethyst, "so wouldn't that put him on her hit list?"

Pearl and Peridot were left speechless at this question and pondered on this. However, out of all of them, the one who was most curious was Steven. The young gem looked at his gem and back at Li'l Bud. Though it was true that Li'l Bud wasn't completely predatory to Steven at first, the mutated gem was still aware of his presence. He couldn't help but remember the fact that he has been told many times throughout his life: he's half gem and half human.

"He is neither enemy nor prey." Garnet finally broke the silence.

The gems looked at her in confusion as she continued, "Steven's heat signature balances out with the light of his gem. To Li'l Bud, he's not something she can eat, but someone she can see."

"If that's true, then why did the other one go after him?" Peridot inquired.

"Well, that's simple," Pearl intervened, "Steven may be half gem, but he still has a heat signature. That makes him a walking meal for the creature."

"So… does that mean we can keep her?" Steven finally said while petting Li'l Bud. The Shrieker gem purred in approval.

"Well, um….In this case…eh…." Pearl stammered, "Garnet?"

Amethyst and Peridot looked at the gem leader curiously as to what her answer will be. In the past, Steven has befriended monsters alike, but another one to keep sounded like a risky idea. She remained silent for a few more minutes before looking at Steven. His doggy eyes reflected off her visor like a photo permanently engraved in the depths of her mind.

"You can keep her." Garnet finally responded with a grin.

This brought joy to Steven as he danced around Li'l Bud. Pearl, Amethyst, and Peridot felt slightly uneasy about this decision but knew they couldn't go against the judgment of their leader. Despite how happy Steven was, Garnet still had to drop the axe.

"But she has to be on a leash at all times."

Steven ceased his dancing and frowned, "Aw."

With this meeting over, Garnet got up and walked towards the warp pad, "Peridot."

The green gem tensed up at the sound of Garnet calling her and turned around.

"You and I are going to the Kindergarten."

"Why?" Peridot asked.

"We need to find out as much as we can about these things. We can't have them roaming around the planet without keeping them in check." Garnet answered.

Peridot reluctantly joined her on the warp pad, yet she somehow felt enlightened. Of all the gems to choose to accompany her on the mission, Garnet chose Peridot. She grinned widely and looked at Pearl.

"Look who's on the warp pad, now!" She chuckled tauntingly.

Pearl shot her an annoyed glare and pushed the chalkboard back into the bathroom hallway. Amethyst slumped on the couch and wished the two of them luck with two thumbs up. Steven waved at them with a smile on his face knowing that one of his guardians could trust him with the responsibility of another gem.

"Steven," said Garnet, catching the younger gem's attention, "one more thing."

"Yes?" Steven asked.

"Keep Li'l Bud hidden," she cautioned in a warning tone, "she's better off hidden considering the night at hand."

"What do you mean?" Steven inquired.

"I love you. Bye." Garnet said before she and Peridot disappeared in a beam of light.

Li'l Bud clamped her jaws twice, receiving a low purr from Lion in response. Amethyst in return pounded her chest twice and let out a hefty belch. Steven attempted Amethyst's trick himself but was left with a slightly bruised chest.

"Aw, no fair!" He complained, much to Amethyst's amusement.

"One day, little man," she said sitting up, "just not today."

Pearl walked back into the room with a rope in her hands. Steven felt as uneasy as Li'l Bud was as Pearl walked closer to them.

"Like Garnet said, she must be kept on a leash at all times." Pearl said before kneeling down towards Li'l Bud.

Suddenly, Steven ran in between them, "But what if she has to sleep!"

"Gems don't need sleep, Steven." Pearl sighed.

"Yeah, but..." the young gem pondered and pondered for a way out of this predicament. As he thought, though, Pearl waited impatiently for him to respond. Seeing Steven's struggle, Amethyst finally intervened.

"Just let his buddy sleep with him. No biggie," She gave a small thumbs up in Steven's direction, assuring the young gem, "it's not like _you're_ sleeping with it."

"That's not the case!" She stretched the rope as she said this, "Leaving Steven with another corruption is like giving a child a knife!"

"Well...I'm not a child!" Steven stood firmly in between Pearl and Li'l Bud, "And she's not a knife!...I think...I'm not entirely sure what else she can do."

Pearl stared at Steven with a bewildered expression but added a bit of doubt with a cross of her arms. She could tolerate Lion walking free, but a corrupted gem was a whole other story.

"Trust me, Pearl!" Steven exclaimed wholeheartedly.

It was the face of the young Universe that Pearl could not possibly deny. She's seen him tame a beast before, and that was proof enough that he could do it again. She sighed and put the rope on the counter.

"Ugh...one night." She said, putting one finger up.

"That's all we need!"

As if on cue, Li'l Bud stretched her tongue out towards Pearl. The white gem looked at the tongue in disgust as Steven grinned.

"Shake her 'hand,' Pearl!" Steven quipped.

"I'm not touching that thing." Pearl deadpanned as she threw the rope onto the counter, "Amethyst and I will be out looking for the other t-"

"Whoa, whoa, why me?!" Amethyst exclaimed, "I didn't send those things flying out the window!"

"I'm not having this argument again. We're going out to find the other two and that's that!"

Amethyst groaned before sliding off the couch and laying on the floor. She raised her leg a few inches off the ground and wiggled it, hoping for Pearl to drag her. The white gem sighed as she grabbed her by the ankle and dragged her towards the door.

"We'll be back in two hours tops, Steven." Pearl said.

"Wait, can I come with?" Steven asked, already up and ready to go.

"We've already confirmed that they hunt by infrared, Steven," replied Pearl, "It's too dangerous for you to be looking for-"

Before she could finish that thought, she heard the sound of several footsteps running up the stairs outside. She assumed it was Connie, but shot that down considering the schedule she abides by. There wasn't much time to figure out who it was since the noise got even closer. Pearl hauled hauled Amethyst to the side of the door, much to the purple gem's surprise, and jumped back as soon as the footsteps reached the door. Heeding Garnet's warning, Steven threw a blanket over Li'l Bud and pushed her slightly behind Lion.

"Sorry." He whispered.

Instead of the door knob turning, the door itself broke open and fell onto the floor with two figures scrambling on top of it. Travis was finally able to get his hands on Onion, but the boy was far from giving up. He writhed as Travis struggled to get a grip on him, but the two of them finally stopped when a spear was pointed in between them. Travis looked up to see to a familiar, yet angry gem.

"I'm giving you two five seconds to explain all of this before I use this!" She threatened.

Onion dropped the gun onto the ground and looked at Travis. The man had his hands up with sweat going down his forehead. If he was going to get out of this, he'd have to say the only thing he could possibly think of at a time like this.

"Nice to see you too, Pearl." He said nervously.

Pearl lowered her weapon with a confused expression and stared at the man with half-lidded eyes. Steven and Amethyst were just as confused. Travis slowly got up and stood, only standing a few inches taller than Pearl.

"It's me! Travis!" He stared at them with a small smile.

The gems stared at him with the same amount of confusion. Travis blinked once with a small frown.

"Travis B. Wellker?" He reiterated, hoping for that hint to plug in.

The name sounded slightly familiar to Steven, but the events of today had made that memory vanish. Nevertheless, their faces still held those confused looks. Travis sighed knowing how stupid this made him look.

"Oh come on, even you Amethyst?!" He asked, not believing the fact that the two gems have completely forgotten him, "We smashed mail boxes together!"

Amethyst pondered on this, stroking her chin while she did it. She remembered a moment in time where she was indeed smashing mailboxes. Her eyes widened as she finally remembered who the man at the door was.

"Ooooooooooh! Travis!" She exclaimed with a large grin, "...You grew a beard?"

"That's more like it," said Travis, pointing at her with both fingers, "Took you long enough."

"Cut me some slack. It's been like what? 20 years?"

"You know him?" Pearl asked, now even more confused.

"Well, of course _you_ wouldn't remember him," said Amethyst playfully, "You never hang out with him. And if you did, he'd try to flirt with you every now and then."

"Shut up!" Travis said after a few chuckles.

Onion saw this moment of distraction as a chance to escape and bolted out the door. Travis attempted to grab him but missed by an inch. Travis was close to his frustration limit, but was relieved to hear the only other voice he wanted to hear.

"Not so fast, tiny!" Burt exclaimed as he grabbed Onion by the back of his shirt and lifted him up.

The old man walked up to the entrance and stared at the scene at hand. Burt couldn't make sense of the people living within this home. A small, slightly chubby boy with a gem at his belly button, a thin, pale woman with an incredibly pointy nose and a pearl on her forehead, and a shorter, purple woman with an amethyst on her chest. The pink lion only added to the peculiarity of this house.

 _Damn hippies._ Burt thought as he rolled his eyes.

"I'm not even gonna ask if there's more of you." He said as picked up his Uzi and hung it from its barrel within a pocket in his jacket.

"Hey! It's the old guy who yelled at the pizza guy!" Amethyst pointed out, "Man, look older in person."

"If this about that thing in your cage," Pearl brought up, "we weren't properly briefed on the species at Han-"

"Excuse me?" Burt asked, taking a step closer, "You're the broads who broke into my truck?!"

"Let's not get hasty with the locals again, Bur-"

" _And_ the ones who stole my Shrieker?" He took another step forward, prompting the gems to feel threatened.

"We're not the ones who brought that beast into the town in the first place!" Pearl retorted.

"Wait..." Steven squinted at the two men before he was hit with a sudden realization, "You made it!"

"What?" The other four asked, all looking at the young gem.

"My friend and I called you earlier today about that gem you found!" Steven explained.

"You called for two random men to come to our house?" Pearl asked, looking sternly at Steven.

"You say that as if we're just two pedophiles." Travis said, feeling a little offended.

"Negative and affirmative," said Burt, "I was informed that he had Intel on a rock in our possession."

"Gem." Travis corrected.

"Doesn't matter! Rock! Pebble! Crystal! Gem! Bullet! None of that matters now with Shriekers on the loose thanks to these two bumbling nitwits!"

"Why you insignificant-" Pearl was cut off as Burt took the Peridot out of his pocket and threw it in Steven's direction. The young gem nearly dropped it though he still got a good grip on the gem. Burt turned around knowing his work here was done with Onion still in his grasp.

"You got your gem, I got my gun, and this little twerp's got parents to go to," said Burt, "God help whoever they are."

"Hey Burt, I'm just gonna... gonna... you know..." Travis meekly said, hastening to leave.

"Not be as tense as the mayor." Amethyst concluded.

"You're not gonna do shit besides returning to the truck and loading up." Burt replied coldly, "Remember, there are Shriekers out there!"

"Come on, Burt! There's barely anything for that thing to eat anyway!" Travis replied.

Steven was close to spilling the beans before Amethyst elbowed him to stop. Pearl was about to as well but was stopped by Amethyst in a similar fashion.

"This isn't some God damn sunnyside vacation, Travis!" Burt looked over Travis' tropical wear and rethought his statement, "But you wouldn't tell that by looking."

Travis brought the older man to the door and took out a small device with a radar. He turned it on and gave it to Burt with the hopes of convincing him to let him stay.

"Look at that," Travis pointed at a few red dots along the outskirts of the town's beachside, "Gotta be like what? 2? 3 Shriekers? And they're not doing anything damaging!"

"What's your point?" Burt asked, adjusting his grip on Onion's shirt.

"I'm saying that this'll be a piece of cake for you, man! You don't need me!" Travis reasoned, "That's at least one-thirty-ninth of what you've tangled with."

"And while I'm killing said Shriekers, what, pray tell, are you going to do?" Burt asked with his chin up.

"You know, getting info!" Travis replied, "That's what we came here for, right? Learn a bit about that green chick you killed back in those fields?"

"1. I didn't kill her," Burt clarified, "And 2. Why is the arrow on my bullshit detector still in the red?"

"I don't know, man. You've still got trust issues," replied Travis, "Why can't you just trust me on this? Who knows! What if we run into an army of those green things and have no idea how to take them down?"

Burt glared at his son for a solid 30 seconds before looking over his shoulder to see the gems staring back. Steven waved nervously as Amethyst scratched her stomach and burped. Pearl gave him an "I'm watching you," look as well, making him feel slightly suspicious. Nevertheless, he knew more than anyone that Travis wasn't a complete nut job when it came to his plans. He pulled out his army knife and handed it to Travis.

"Stay alert," said the survivalist, "I don't trust them."

Travis smiled and returned the knife, "Well I do. So I won't be needing this."

"You have 3 hours to report back to the truck." Burt warned before turning towards the stairs with Onion still in his hands.

"That's all I need, Pops!" Travis called after him.

Travis could hear the man groan at this and grinned. He turned back around and walks over the door to greet the gems once again.

"Sorry about the door," said Travis, "I'm not so fond of hardwood either."

"Why are you still here?" Pearl asked, still uncomfortable with a stranger in the house.

"Well, I'm definitely not here to clear out your fridge. I can bet ya Amethyst already beat me to it." Travis glanced at the remnants of mashed potatoes near the fridge, "Case closed."

Steven examined the Peridot gem from all angles. Judging from the limb enhancers in the photo of the article, he could infer that she must be an Era 2 Peridot.

"All right, I'm just here for one thing." Travis pointed at the Peridot, "Whatever the Hell's up with that thing."

"She's a gem from outer space." Steven answered.

"Yeah, no kidding," replied Travis, "but what I want to know is why that gem was practically embedded on her forehead?"

He looked at the three of them and took note of the gems on their bodies as well. He stroked his chin at this; the Crystal Gems have always been an enigma in his past, and things seemed crystal clear at this point.

"You guys should know, right? What with the gems and all." He asked Amethyst and Pearl.

"Well, technically speaking," said Pearl, "it's not simply embedded in her body, but rather the source itself."

This fact was lost on Travis, though. The man stared at her clueless.

"It's like a heart but without the blood." Amethyst summarized.

"Right now, she's regenerating." Steven said.

"I have no idea what any of you are talking about." Travis said with a straight face.

"Well, you're still as dull as before. I remember that." Pearl sighed, walking over to the other room to retrieve the chalk board.

"Aaaaaah, so you _do_ remember me!"

"Just sit down!"

* * *

Just 30 minutes after the confrontation with the gems, Burt had already made it to the suburban neighborhood of Beach City. Halfway through the walk, he let Onion walk freely beside him so as to lead the way towards his house. Burt checked his watch and then at his satellite map of the city. The red dots grew in quantity from four to eight, proving that he couldn't waste another minute.

"The longer this walk takes, the higher the percentage of how screwed this town is." Burt complained, "How much further?"

Onion pointed at a house with a large garage, prompting Burt to carry Onion by his shirt collar again and picking up the pace. He ran right up to the steps and stood in front of the door with Onion back on the ground. He rang the doorbell once; getting more impatient by the second. He finally decided to be even more direct and proceeded to knocking on the door. After a few minutes, knocking turned to pounding. Once Burt was about to pound again, he heard a raspy, feminine voice come from behind the door.

"I heard the bell!" The woman exclaimed angrily.

Burt winced at the sudden outburst and took a step back. The door opened to reveal a woman looking to be in her mid to late 40's wearing a robe, slippers, and yellow, onion-shaped hair. The wrinkles on her face were accompanied by a glare that could shake any man in his shoes. However, upon seeing Burt her glare vanished into that of shock.

"Burt?" She asked, hoping that she wasn't mistaking him for anyone else.

This came as a shock to the old man considering this was his first time meeting the woman. He looked down at Onion to see if he could explain, but the boy stared back in shared confusion.

"I don't mean to sound rude, but do I know you?" Burt asked.

"It's me! Vidalia!" She exclaimed with a large smile, "I haven't seen you in 30 years!"

"Vidalia?" Burt inquired, pondering on the name through memory.

"I was the little kid who stole one of your guns when you weren't looking?" Vidalia reminded him, "Back at Rehoboth Beach?"

Burt's eyes widened at this as he remembered a moment in time as a youth in his 20's that he somehow couldn't forget. Burt remembered finding a little girl with long hair ending at a smaller onion-shaped top with one of his pistols. Despite having to run around just to catch her, he couldn't help but smile at how much she laughed whenever he failed.

"Vidalia?!" Burt asked in shock while slightly smiling, "Look at you!"

"Yep." Vidalia responded proudly, "You haven't changed a bit!"

"So you had a kid of your own, huh?" Burt asked, looking down at Onion.

Vidalia picked up Onion and held him like a baby. She poked his nose and chuckled.

"Yeah, Onion's my little troublemaker!"

"Like mother, like son," said Burt before he took out his Uzi, "He snatched this little number from me and my boy earlier."

"That's Onion," said Vidalia with a grin, "always up to mischief...boy?"

"Hm?"

"No way," said Vidalia with a mix of surprise and excitement, "You and Heather had a kid?!"

"What? No," replied Burt, "It's...it's a long story."

Burt couldn't stay much longer with the situation at hand, "It was great meeting you again, Vidalia. Really. But I have a group of pests to eradicate."

"Aw, you're leaving already?" Visalia asked disappointedly, "You just got here! Stay for a bit and chat!"

"Negative, the longer I stay here, the worse my situation beco-"

"Burt, I have a bowl of noodles on the table just waiting to be eaten," said Vidalia sternly, "And you're eating it with us!"

Without a word, she grabbed Burt by the arm and dragged him into the house. This caught the old man by surprise, especially seeing how strong her pull was.

* * *

"Now let's review," said Pearl, "What are gems?"

"Rocks that have... like some kind of hologram body with mass." Travis answered half-awake.

"How are gems made?" Amethyst asked.

"From nutrients in the Earth."

"And what's the beet way to eat chaaps?" Steven asked with a large grin.

"Any way!" Travis said, not as enthusiastically while shaking his hands.

Pearl tried her best to hold back a giggle at Steven's antic, but failed seeing how Travis was still shaking his hands with him. Steven surrounded the Peridot gem with a blanket and pushed it slightly to the side. Amethyst sat on one of the stools and slouched on the table with a bored expression. Their explanation took them a total of 30 minutes yet it felt like 3 hours to her... and Travis.

"All this teaching Travis junk is boring," said Amethyst, now pointing at each one of them, "You're boring. You're boring. You're boring...I'm bored."

"I still can't believe you guys are aliens." Travis said, feeling more intrigued, "I always assumed that you were a bunch of magicians or some junk."

"Well, we tend to be mistaken for that at times." Pearl replied.

"My friend Ronaldo thought we were Snake People once," Steven chuckled, "...The gems almost killed him after he kidnapped me."

"Sounds like you've been through a lot of shit," said Travis, "I can relate."

"How? You're wearing a Hawaiian shirt." Amethyst quipped.

"Hey, if you guys don't like it, I can just take it off right now!" Travis retorted, grabbing the first button of his shirt.

"Keep it on, please!" Pearl cringed. The thought of a shirtless human was still unsettling to her.

"How big are those Graboid things you hunt?" Steven asked.

"Huuuuge!" Travis exclaimed, extending his arms, "They make Greg's van look like a beetle car."

"You know my dad?!" Steven gasped.

"Dad?"

"Travis and your father were close friends back in the late 80's," said Pearl to Steven, "Amethyst, too." Pearl's expression turned straight at that last part.

"Hold up...dad?" Travis asked again.

"We'd always spray paint 'colorful' words on people's cars." Amethyst said before sighing satisfactioningly, "Those were the days."

"Dad never told me about any of that." Steven advised.

"Seriously? Not even the boat incident?" Amethyst questioned.

"We destroyed one his rentals a few weeks ago!" Steven added.

"Yo!" Travis exclaimed with his hands in the air, "Greg and Rose had a kid?!"

This brought a moment of silence amongst the group, leaving an embarrassed look on Travis' face.

"Not...not to sound rude, I mean," Travis apologized, "What did I miss?"

"Long after you left," said Pearl, "Rose and Greg decided to conceive of a child. One that would be half gem and half human."

"That's me!" Steven exclaimed joyfully as he pulled up his shirt to reveal the quartz gem in his belly.

"Daaaaaamn!" Travis exclaimed, "That's a new level of _ballin'!_ Where is the lovely couple, anyway?"

"Greg's at his car wash, but Rose..." Pearl looked down as Amethyst rubbed her shoulder, "No longer with us."

Travis looked distraught at this news seeing as how he was on good terms in friendship with Rose. He looked at the painting above the door and reminisced about the kindest person he ever met.

"Well...you either die a hero or live long enough to be the villain is what they say." Travis said softly.

"We got the hero," said Amethyst, headlocking Steven and ruffling his hair, "that's for sure!"

Travis smiled, "I never got your name, by the way."

"I'm Steven! Steven Universe." Steven answered.

"Travis B. Welker."

"Who was the old fart with the mustache?" Amethyst asked.

"He's as unpleasant as older humans come." Pearl added with a frown.

"Burt Gummer, the man, the myth, the guy who boned my mom." Travis explained.

Pearl blushed at this and covered Steven's ears while glaring at Travis for his impudence and use of words. He shrugged with a clueless expression.

"So you finally found him, huh?" Amethyst queried, "Took you long enough."

"You wouldn't believe how much I had to go through just to be his cameraman," said Travis, "6 years in the union really paid off."

"What was Burt telling you before he left?" Steven inquired.

"Something about killing Shriekers or something." Travis replied, "But there's gotta be like a couple out there."

"Then shouldn't you be out there as well?" Pearl asked with her arms crossed.

"Well yeah, but I wanted to catch up, you know!" Travis replied, "It's been twenty years and you guys barely changed!"

"Gems don't age," said Amethyst, "That's what makes us cool."

"No matter the case, _I'm_ going out there and taking care of the Shriekers myself." Pearl said, summoning her spear and heading for the door. Amethyst followed suit with her whip in hand. Steven was last to follow before turning back to see if Li'l Bud was fine. The corrupted gem poked its head out slightly before Lion took a step to the side to hide her once more. This brought a broad smile to the young gem, but disappeared when he saw Travis frowning.

"Whaaaat? Come on!" Travis complained, "You guys are gonna pull a Burt on me, too?"

"For all we know, there could be more of them!" Pearl replied.

"You should come with us, Travis!" Steven suggested, "You have experience with these things!"

The gems stared at the survivalist, waiting for a response. Travis thought about what he was about do contrary to what he wanted to do having come back to this town again. He gave a long, frustrated groan with his head tilted back.

"I knew I should've worn my jacket." Travis noted as he took out his pistol and cocked it.

* * *

Burt stared at the device Travis gave him the whole time Vidalia was washing the dishes. The Shrieker population remained at a total of 8. As much as he needed to leave, he knew he couldn't with someone as persistent as Vidalia around. The woman practically had eyes in the back of her head since she could tell what Burt was doing.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you'd go blind by looking at that thing for too long." She spoke up.

The old man poked his head up and put away the device. She took a seat in front of him and interlocked her fingers over her head. She exhaled in relaxation and proceeded to converse with Burt.

"So what has the trigger-happy Burt Gummer been up to since we last met?" Vidalia asked.

"Well, after leaving the military, I settled down in my great grandfather's bunker in Perfection." Burt replied.

"Sounds perfect," said Vidalia, chuckling at her own joke.

Burt couldn't help but laugh along as well; for a short time, though.

"Not exactly. 10 years afterward, the town was under siege by monsters we called Graboids." Burt explained, "Next thing I know, I find myself killing these things for the next 26 years in three different countries on two different continents!"

Vidalia simply stared at him in disbelief trying comprehend what the survivalist just said. The first thing that was up for questioning was what a Graboid was. Before she could, a teenage boy with pale yellow, spiky hair, a blue hoodie, and orange pants walked in with a newspaper in his hand.

"I sent you out to get the paper 7 hours ago!" Vidalia exclaimed.

"Sorry, there was a rave!" Sour Cream apologized, "There's no way I could turn it down!"

Vidalia sighed and waved it off. The boy noticed Burt looking at his device and felt curious.

"Who's this?" He asked Vidalia.

"Oh, this is Burt." She answered, "Burt, this is my oldest, Sour Cream."

"Pleasure to meet you." Burt said, tipping his cap yet not looking away from the device. The population of Shriekers increased by 2, the threat level rising slightly as well.

"He's an old friend from when I was a kid," said Vidalia, "It's been years, but his mustache barely changed."

"Hm." Sour Cream shrugged and walked into the other room.

As Burt continued to observe the digital map of the area, Vidalia skimmed through the newspaper. Nothing seemed to catch her eye until she came across a small article with a picture of two men standing in front of a giant...thing on their truck. Her eyes widened at the sight of the monster's appearance and especially the article's description as well.

The man on the right was Burt all right, but the man on the left had a name that she instantly recognized from her twenties: Travis B. Welker. This day just seemed to get weirder and weirder.

"You know Travis?" She queried.

"I don't just know him," replied Burt, "He's my son. Met him a year ago and halfway through our mission, I find out that he's my long lost offspring."

"Talk about a family film," said Vidalia, still staring at the article, "He wasn't kidding!"

"About what?"

"20 years ago, Travis started talking about how you were his 'badass dad' and...well I just didn't come to believe it!"

"I couldn't believe it at first either," said Burt as he took off his hat, "But...the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree. He's not that bad of a gun man."

"I'm...guessing Heather didn't birth this guy?" Vidalia asked. It would make sense seeing as how she met Burt in his early thirties when she was only 10.

"Negative. It was with, uh...A woman I met at a gun show in Pensacola." Burt responded, "You could compare Jasmine and Travis like you would a pistol and a BB gun."

Vidalia nodded at this and remembered the first time she met Heather. It was right after Burt caught her that Heather intervened to keep the peace.

"So how's Heather?" She asked.

"She's...visiting her sister." Burt assured, though the lie was very see-through according to Vidalia's doubtful look. She remembered the kind of relationship he and Heather had. And she knew damn well that a couple like that wouldn't be separated by a great distance.

"Really?" She inquired, "She didn't bother to follow you all the way from Nevada?"

Burt tapped the table trying to come up with another lie, "Well...you know how she is? A family woman!"

"Not even for her step-son?" Vidalia questioned, looking even more doubtful.

Before Burt could say anything else, she held up one finger for him to stop. Burt knew the lie had to end there.

"Heather left me 20 years ago." The old man sighed, "It was official as soon as she called for the HK-91."

"Man," said Vidalia in pity, "what made her leave?"

"Since the fall of the Soviet Union, she said I was too hard to live with," replied Burt, "Said I couldn't live without the thought of global war."

Though she didn't want to say it, Vidalia had an expression that read, "No kidding." Burt wasn't always the most stable-minded person she met. The saddened expression on Burt's face shot down this thought, however, with Vidalia trying her best to cheer him up.

"Hey, at least you got Travis!" She mentioned, "He's an adrenaline jockey. The kind _you_ like!"

Burt looked at Vidalia as she gave him a nervous smile and gave a small smile. He appreciated her for trying.

"I've gotten used to it."

Vidalia giggled softly; the smile on Burt's face was more satisfying than a gloomy old man. It was only a few minutes before the cheerful atmosphere was broken by consecutive beeps. Burt's eyes widened as he whipped out the device and observed the map. Although the Shrieker count remained at 10, it wasn't as alarming as the new threat: a Graboid closing in on the beach.

"Shit!" Burt exclaimed, "This can't be possible!"

"What?" Vidalia asked curiously.

"There's a Graboid in the vicinity!" Burt exclaimed as he put his cap back on and shot out of his seat, "Thank you, Vidalia, but I have to go!"

"Wait, one of those giant things are here?!"

"I don't know how, I don't know why," said Burt as he cocked his Uzi, "what matters is that I get to my truck and load up."

As the survivalist rushed to the door, Vidalia shuddered at the thought of one of the beasts seen in the article invading Beach City. Before Burt made it out the door, she spoke up with a shaky voice.

"W-what can I do?!" She asked with eyes widened.

"For the time being, I need you and your boys to get up on your roof and stay there until I report back to you!" Burt advised, "They can't reach higher ground."

"How are we supposed to know whether you die or not?" Vidalia looked genuinely worried at this point.

Burt pondered on this for a bit before he took out a card from his pocket. Upon giving it to her, Burt pointed to her home phone.

"Call me on the horn and refrain from making immense sound vibrations!" He said before running down the street.

Vidalia looked at the card bearing But and Travis' faces along with their cell numbers next to them. She stuffed it in her robe pocket and ran to get Sour Cream and Onion.

 _Don't fail me now, Burt._ She thought as she ran up the stairs.

* * *

"Anything?" Travis asked Amethyst.

The purple gem came out of a small hole in the cliffside as a rat. She returned to her original form and shook her head.

"Nothing but guano." She noted.

"That's gross!" Steven exclaimed with a slight chuckle.

"Ugh, they wouldn't be in _there!_ " Pearl groaned, gesturing to the hole.

"Then where would they be, Sherlock?" Travis asked mockingly.

Pearl shot him a spiteful look before hearing a strange ringtone. The Tupac rap came from Travis' pocket. Once he picked it up, the ground below them shook softly. Steven set his hand on the ground to feel the low rumble as did Pearl.

"You feel that, too?" Amethyst asked them.

"Maybe Lion's just purring really loudly," said Steven with a smile, "That happened once."

"No...this one's not stopping..." Pearl confirmed.

"Burt, calm down! You sound like you're running from a pack of wolves." Travis said while on the phone.

"Travis, I need you report to the truck ASAP! ASAP!" Burt shouted through the phone.

"God, my ear, man!" Travis replied, cleaning out his ear, "Why? Did you kill those Shriekers, yet?"

"That's not the problem, there is another adversary. I repeat, there is another adversary!" Burt panicked.

"Ass Blasters?" Travis questioned, causing Amethyst to snicker.

"Graboid!" Burt yelled.

Travis could hear his father unload weapons from his truck, but not after feeling the rumble in the sand grow larger. He looked down at the shaking sand along with the gems. He pulled out his gun and aimed it at the ground hoping to kill any of its tentacles first.

"What are you doing?!" Pearl questioned loudly, "Put that gun away!"

"Woah man!" Amethyst exclaimed, running away from Travis and towards the beach, "Watch it!"

Steven backed away but stopped as soon as the shaking increased. They all looked back at the ground's incessant shaking. Travis went stiff as a boulder with the fear of making too much noise, but Amethyst did the opposite. She continuously moved around to get a better balance, much to Travis' anxiety. He constantly gestured for her to cease her movement but soon the shaking in the ground stopped instead.

A moment of silence passed among the group after the sudden stop. Travis, Steven, and Pearl remained stationary as Amethyst looked around herself.

"I don't know what the big deal was," said the purple gem, "Nothing but a trem-"

Before she could finish, the ground below her gave away and carried her upward. Pearl summoned her spear immediately upon seeing the colossal worm beast pop out of the ground. The Graboid's tentacles lifted Amethyst above its jaws and bit down on her arms and legs.

"Amethyst!" The other three screamed.

Travis shot bullet after bullet into the Graboid's body, but its skin absorbed them like pebbles to a boulder. Amethyst quickly shapeshifted into a bird and flew past the Graboid's jaws, allowing Pearl to send a round of lasers from her spear. The Graboid's skin burnt upon impact, but the beast kept moving. It sunk into the ground and circled around them.

"What is that?!" Pearl asked in a panic.

"A Graboid," replied Travis dreadfully, "a hungry one, too!"

"Look out!" Steven yelped upon seeing a small 'wave' of sand heading right for them.

Pearl walked slowly backwards, firing as many lasers as she could towards the Graboid. Travis stepped to the side but fired at it as well. Neither of them could get a lucky shot; the monster just kept coming.

The Graboid shot its head upward through the ground and slammed its body hard on the sand. The force was enough to knock the two of them off their feet. In retaliation, Steven and Amethyst came running towards it with their weapons. Steven threw his shield at the Graboid's head, stunning it for a short time. Amethyst wrapped her whip around the top of its jaw and pulled back. While the beast was restrained, Pearl took this opportunity to attempt a fatal stab to its throat.

However, right when she was in stabbing distance, the Graboid's jaw strength broke through Amethyst's whip. This force of the pull sent it jerking downward and knocking Pearl backwards.

"It's too strong!" Steven exclaimed.

"Ya think?!" Amethyst retorted, summoning another whip.

"None of what I have is gonna slow him down," said Travis as he helped Pearl up, "where's that taller chick you live with?"

"Garnet's on a mission," replied Pearl before they avoided another head-on collision from the Graboid, "If I could just get a clear opening, I can end it with my spear!"

"I can help with that!" Steven exclaimed before rolling past them in his pink bubble.

"What the f-Where'd he get that?!" Travis asked, awestruck.

"He's full of surprises!" Amethyst answered as she ran in with two more whips.

The Graboid twisted around for another attack only to be hit straight in the head by Steven's bubble. It grumbled in irritation but was unprepared for Amethyst's whips wrapping around its body. The purple gem used all her strength to keep it still, even digging her feet into the ground for foundation. Steven rolled over the Graboid from behind, bounced off its head, and dissipated his bubble before landing on the sand.

The Graboid roared immensely with its tail breaking through the ground nearly 30 feet away from its head. Travis cocked his gun again and fired round after round at the beast's mouth. Steven gave Pearl a thumbs up, prompting the white gem to run towards the detained Graboid.

"Let loose, P!" Amethyst encouraged.

"Kill that bitch!" Travis shouted encouragingly. He looked down at Steven and coughed, "Pardon my French."

"That's a French word?" The young gem asked.

Pearl ran like Hell and leaped with a stance. The Graboid didn't have time to defend against what came next. Finally at a closing distance, Pearl jabbed her spear so far into the Graboid's throat that the tip came out to the other end. She pulled out her spear out once she saw its tentacles go limp and orange blood drip through its wound and jaws. She stepped back as a measure of preparing for another attack.

Amethyst dissipated her whips and winced at the terrible smell emitting off the corpse. The others did as well.

"Ugh...it smells putrid!" Pearl exclaimed.

"It smells like a moldy pizza!" Steven noted.

"Woooooo! Eat shirt, worm!" Travis exclaimed excitedly, giving Amethyst a high-five, "You're in the Gem Zone, now!"

The purple gem ran along the length of Graboid's half-submerged body all the way down to its tail. She lifted the tail higher, causing the sand around the body to sink in and reveal the rest of the worm's wide and spiky length.

"This thing's huge!" Amethyst exclaimed, "I bet we can fit a whole bunch of my junk in here!"

"We are _not_ keeping it!" Pearl retorted.

"But Steven got to keep _his!_ " Amethyst replied.

"Keep what?" Travis questioned.

"Nothing." Steven answered nervously.

Travis headlocked the boy and ruffled his hair lightly. Steven chuckled in response as Pearl grabbed the Graboid by its head and pulled it to the side with Amethyst.

"I knew sticking around would pay off," said Travis with a grin, "You guys were made for this!"

"We've seen worse," said Steven, "But where do you think Burt is?"

"Hold on, let me call him." Travis replied as he took out his phone.

* * *

Locked and loaded with an LMG and grenades, Burt jumped out of his truck looking at the satellite map. The Shriekers were still in bound, yet the Graboid's seismic movements vanished. His face held a confused expression before his phone started to ring. He took it out and was relieved to see that it was Travis.

"Travis?"

"We got it, Burt! We got it!" Travis exclaimed excitedly through the phone.

"You killed it?" Burt inquired.

"Not just me." Travis replied before the phone was given to Steven.

"Hi Burt!" Steven greeted.

"Pearl stabbed that worm through the throat!" Amethyst exclaimed.

"It was all a team effort." Pearl spoke up in the background.

Burt smiled at the news and laughed softly but excitedly. Had he taken Travis with him, this hunt wouldn't have been as easy as it was.

"And here I thought you were all a bunch of hippies." Burt said.

"We're just full of surprises, Burt!" Steven replied, "You never know what's gonna happen next!

"Bet you're glad I stayed, huh Burt?" Travis asked smugly, now with the phone in hand.

"Don't get cocky, Travis," chuckled Burt, "There are still 10 Shriekers to eradicate at the edge of this city."

"We'll meet ya there." Travis assured before hanging up.

Burt put his phone back in his pocket before checking his satellite map again. The Shrieker count may have increased by two, but the survivalist was confident that this wouldn't be an issue. He took two whole steps before the map started beeping once again. A feeling of dread came over the old man as he looked at the device again. The seismometer on the map signaled a turn for the worst: a second Graboid.

"Son of a bitch."

* * *

 **Man, you would not BELIEVE how many rewrites this chapter had. Literally halfway through the year, I almost gave up on this story. It was the interactions that I conceived in the original draft that made me consider giving up on this chapter and story alone, but that was because it's also been forever since I wrote a fanfiction. And trust me, those were shit times.**

 **Anyway, I'm glad I could get this chapter up before the end of year. I can't promise any deadline for next chapter, but I can assure you that I will try to finish it. Thanks for reading this monster of a chapter and this story in general.**

 **Merry belated Christmas and Happy New Years!**

 **And remember: Survival starts with you.**


	5. Battle On Two Fronts

**Another year, another hangover...probably a few weeks late to say that, but to me everyday's a hangover. But seriously, with that out of the way, I just wanna get a few things sorted out before you start reading. When it comes to new creatures (i.e. newly appearing creatures in the story since they're practically ancient by the Tremors' timeline) I** _ **will**_ **use pronouns and labels until someone mentions the name. I know that sounds like a dick move pulled off by many screenwriters (something commonly pointed out by Cinema Sins) but that's just how I write stories. It's common story writing in some cases, but I just wanted to point that out. Not gonna lie, I wanted to get this chapter over with, so it might seem a little rushed halfway through. Now I'll just shut up and let you all read...but first:**

 **I do not own Steven Universe or Tremors. Rights to SU go to Cartoon Network and Rebecca Sugar and rights to Tremors goes to Universal Studios, Don Michael Paul, Ron Underwood, and S.S. Wilson. I can't believe I forgot to mention them last time.**

* * *

Garnet and Peridot stared in awe at the quantity of gemstones surrounding the Kindergarten. The gems lined parts of the walls and stuck out of many parts of the land mass. From afar, their diversity of color palettes nearly mixed. Garnet slid down the slope with Peridot not too far behind. The gem leader wanted a closer look at this phenomena for a better understanding.

She pulled one brown gem out of the ground and observed its peculiarity. The gemstone wasn't much of a cluster, but appeared morphed to the point of appearing as more than one gem. Garnet stuck it back into the ground and picked up another. This one was red and felt hot to the touch, although she didn't mind.

"None of this was here before we left!" Peridot noted as she knelt down beside a trio of gems. She attempted to pick up a red one, but dropped it in recoil of its blistering heat.

"Yeow! Is this...a Ruby?" She queried.

"No." Garnet answered stoically, "These gems are different. It's unnatural for a Ruby to be this warm in dormant state."

As for the gems similar in size and shape to Li'l Bud's, they remained close together with small amounts of light radiating from the tips. Peridot observed one closer but as soon as she put her hand over the light, the gem shook in response. She coiled back as the monster was about to take its form.

Garnet pushed Peridot behind her and summoned her gauntlets. The body of light morphed into that of a Shrieker; an angry one at that. It opened its flaps to reveal the same glowing sensors as Li'l Bud and shrieked before running towards the two. Its small stature was no match, however, against Garnet's immense power. She raised her gauntlet up and smacked it down to the ground hard enough to poof it back into its dormant state. Garnet reached out quickly and grabbed the gemstone before it could fall to the ground and bubbled it.

"Don't touch them." Garnet said.

"You don't have to tell me twice!" Peridot replied as she stayed close behind Garnet.

The two gems continued their trek through the Kindergarten, trying to avoid any other contact with the gems as much as possible. Each time one of them triggered one of the Shrieker gems, Garnet was always lightning quick with poofing them. The poof count came to 8 before they finally reached the hole leading to the control room. Garnet and Peridot slid down through the slope of the hole and walked across the bridge.

The duration of the walk posed to be strange for Peridot since she could feel an unnatural amount of heat from the area. She turned her head but found nothing but never-ending darkness at each side of the bridge. An exception was the large hexagonal, green room they finally entered.

"We need to know as much as we can about this threat when the time comes to face it." Garnet told Peridot.

The green gem nodded and walked over to the control pad in the middle of the room. She herself wanted to find out if there was more to these new gems than she already knew. Peridot activated the control pad with the palm of her hand and sorted out the files that came up. She dismissed several cluster gem experiments before coming upon the Graboid gem again.

"Here we go," said Peridot as she opened the file, "Experiment #195."

She opened the file and sure enough, the same information remained. Peridot was able to summarize said information for Garnet to understand; from the gems' purpose to their oddly-formed gemstones. Weaknesses was one that she couldn't find, though. However, what really caught Garnet's attention was the image of a Peridot at the corner of the screen. Taking in all the information Peridot presented, she walked closer and pointed at the image.

"See if you can get a background check on this Peridot." Garnet requested.

"Why?" Peridot asked, "What could _she_ possibly have to do with any of this?"

"You never know." Garnet replied.

Peridot gave her a confused look but complied with her anyway. She accessed the information on the Peridot whom apparently headed the revival of this experiment. The information presented held everything: her serial number, her era, even her logs.

"Peridot Facet-9R3P CUT-2JG," said Peridot aloud, "An era 2 Peridot like me, but slightly older by a few a decades."

"Mhm." Garnet said while nodding.

"After failing her initial mission to activate these gem experiment, she was reassigned as a biological reconnaissance operative to determine what Homeworld would be up against on different planets."

"Anything else?"

"Her failed mission took place at least a hundred and twenty years ago," replied Peridot, "in a dry, arid region surrounded by an abundance of landforms."

The green gem scrolled past the log dates, but there was nothing else to show. Peridot sighed and returned to the original gem experiment file.

"Well, that's all there is, I guess." She said.

"If we can't find their weakness here-" Garnet summoned one gauntlet and clenched it, "we'll have to find it ourselves when the time comes."

"You're just gonna challenge them head-on?!" Peridot asked with her arms extended to the sides, "These things are sensitive to sound vibrations. Just one step is enough to trigger them!"

"We'll be fine," replied Garnet, "we've faced worse foes. Remember that."

"Well...I _did_ defeat Jasper..." Peridot added with her elbow on her other palm.

"Precisely." Garnet said with a grin.

As the two of them made their way back, something caused Garnet to stop. Peridot turned around noticing the gem's immobility. She was about to speak until she saw something in the reflection of Garnet's visor. It was a faint, fiery glow that originated from the darkness above then. The green gem looked up, hoping to find an answer to the Garnet's sudden stop. From the endless darkness, there was a faint glow of fire appearing and disappearing everywhere each minute. Peridot's eyes widened and her jaw dropped at the sight of the flames steadily increasing in quantity.

One flame was large enough to illuminate the features of the source. The source was not one entity, but rather a whole colony of monsters. The beasts had fin-like wings at their sides and back accompanied by fire generating from their posteriors. Lacking arms, their feet proved just as efficient since they appeared to dig into the ceiling. Their heads were long and opened in a similar way to Shriekers and Graboids.

"Oh my stars." Peridot gasped quietly.

In a lightning-quick motion, Garnet covered Peridot's mouth. The two of them remained silent as the monsters' combined noises increased. It was only a matter of seconds before a flame died down with its light that Peridot noticed a strange feature of one of their heads. Two slits with pulsating light underneath was open on one head. The green gem pulled away Garnet's hand and took a step forward.

"They have those sensors," Peridot whispered, "just like the other one."

"There's too many of them," said Garnet, "we'll have to escape as discreetly as possible."

"They're everywhere!" Peridot quietly screamed, "How are we supposed to escape?!"

"The way we came in, of course." Garnet replied dryly.

"That's gonna be a lot harder now that I know _those things_ are there!" Peridot retorted, gesturing towards the monsters.

The monsters were stirred from the outburst, but proceeded to remain stationary on the ceiling. Peridot flinched at first but then calmed down. Garnet walked past her and towards the slope of the hole with Peridot inching from behind. The green gem's gaze never left the horde of monsters as she walked slowly. Their grunts and growls unsettled her; the flames from their behinds unsettled her even more.

As soon as the two gems reached the slope, they took one last look at the area to see if they were spotted. The monsters were as docile and oblivious as they could be. Garnet sighed and turned to walk up the slope. However, Peridot couldn't help but smirk at their success in escape.

"Ha! These clods are as oblivious as they are hideous!" Peridot gloated with her hands on her hips. The green gem turned around and threw her hands in the air, "Experiments: None! Peridot: Infinity!"

Her moment of triumph was very short-lived. The sound of metal clanging followed by growling came from behind her, filling her with dread. Peridot turned around to face what she feared most at the moment: an up-close encounter of the fire-spewing beast. The monster stood nearly two feet taller than her and stared down at the green gem. Its light sensors opened up and closed immediately before grunting and stomping on the ground.

Peridot yelped and turned high tail towards the slope. Garnet turned around quickly to find Peridot running past her and one of the monsters with its posterior vibrating rapidly. She summoned her gauntlets but was not prepared for what happened next. The monster spewed fire from out of its behind with enough force to send it flying towards the gem leader. Garnet attempted to punch it, but its wings caught enough wind resistance to glide over her. The monster twisted around as soon as its claws dug into the ground and shot right towards Garnet; this time making contact.

The gem leader grunted before falling to the ground with the monster voraciously biting her arm on top. Peridot could only watch in horror as the beast's jaws sunk into Garnet's arm. The red gem on its posterior showed signs of heating up and smoking, signaling another take-off. Peridot's eyes widened knowing that the force could send them both flying into the darkness around them.

"Get off of her!" She screamed before running towards the beast and tackled it. The two of them tumbled over Garnet ending with Peridot landing on top of the monster. She locked her arms around its throat and held on for dear life as it violently tried to shake her off. It was like watching a kid on a mechanical bull but with the kid refusing to fall off.

Peridot struggled to keep her grip, but did so whatsoever. The monster's failed attempts at knocking the green gem off resulted in its last resort. It thrashed its head around until Peridot lost her grip for a moment. Her arm was caught by the widened jaws of the monster and clamped down on. The monster lowered itself and prepared for ignition. The green gem's eyes widened as she endeavored to stop the beast by punching it in the head with her free arm.

"Don't do it, you clod! Don't even think about it!" She exclaimed as she continued to punch its head, this time in a panic, "Please don't! Please don't! Please dooon't!"

Her attacks were of no avail as the monster's behind was practically sparking at this point. It clawed at the metal floor and growled as it turned towards the darkness with Peridot struggling to break free. In a matter of seconds, the monster's posterior was ablaze and flaming. Peridot yelped and squeezed her eyes shut.

Instead of the wind rushing by her, all Peridot could hear was fire hitting the surface of something. She felt puzzled by the occurrence and opened one of her eyes. They weren't moving and her arm was finally released. She turned her head and was full of relief to find the solution to her dilemmas.

The fiery jet from the monster's gem made contact with Garnet's body, but it didn't faze her. Her hands were gripping the width of the sail-like wings of the monster and nearly ripped them off in the process. The strength of the fusion was enough to cease the monster's take-off and cause it pain at the same time; its painful grunts were a good sign.

Garnet yanked the monster toward her and grabbed it by its jaws with both hands. It fought immensely to break free, but the gem leader was too much for it. With one powerful motion, she broke its jaw and poofed it. The radiating gem fell beside her foot smoking. She picked it up and bubbled the gem away.

"She should let off some steam." She said stoically.

"Ugh, what is it with these troglodytes and my arm?" Peridot groaned.

"You're telling me." Garnet replied as she looked at the torn-up appearance of her arm.

As expected, none of this went unnoticed by the rest of the horde. The whole void of darkness was brightened by hundreds of flames followed by threatening roars and snarls. The two gems backed away as one by one, gem monsters landed on the metal bridge with backsides ablaze.

"Run!" Garbet yelled.

"Way ahead of you!" Peridot replied, already scurrying up the slope. The gem leader followed suit after sending one of her gauntlets rocketing into one of the monsters. The swarm of monsters weren't slowed down by this attack and screeched as they took off.

Peridot was first to make it out and awaited the fusion in anticipation. Garnet wasn't too far behind and jumped to the edge of the hole. Peridot looked down and tensed up at the sight of the swarm making its way up. She looked in every direction for a plan and made a quick decision to simply throw a rock down the hole.

She continued to kick rocks and pebbles down the hole until Garnet caught on and took it upon herself to improve the plan. She ran to the sidelines and lifted a large boulder over her head and threw it into the hole. The rock took down many monsters with it, but they just kept coming. For every poofed gem monster, another immediately took its place. The other two gems weren't so easy to give up, though.

They threw rock after rock, boulder after boulder, yet nothing slowed down the swarm. Peridot crawled away from the hole and scurried behind Garnet.

"You can take them, right?" Peridot asked desperately.

"Most of them..." Garnet answered before adjusting her shades, "But I see no possibility of all of them."

If the answer alone didn't fill her with dread, the sounds of the snarling and roars coming from the hole did. Garnet summoned her gauntlets and prepared for the inevitable. The green gem couldn't stand the suspense any longer and ran on all fours in the other direction. The green gem didn't plan on facing of f against a ravenous army. She didn't get far before slamming into an injector, though.

Peridot fell back down and simply laid there. She had lost hope in escaping what her predecessors had created. As much as she didn't want to, she finally decided to embrace her demise...until it hit her.

The green gem sat back up and looked at the injector in front of her. The bottom half was still implanted in the ground, but the top half was laying right beside its legs with the drill still attached. She looked at the hole then back at the injector before devising the perfect plan of escape.

Peridot grinned and stood firm before raising her hands towards the drill part of the injector. She exerted her ferrokinesis to the fullest of extent but to no avail. The injector only moved a few feet from its original area. The green gem wasn't close to giving up, however. She gave it her all. The strain was immense, but the progress was slowly increasing.

"Garnet!" She exclaimed tensely, "I need assistance!"

Garnet turned around and figured out Peridot's plan immediately, "Perfect."

She ran over to the injector half and lifted the front over her head. The combined effort of both Garnet's strength and Peridot's metal powers was enough to make the transport of the injector to the hole easier. Garnet lifted the injector higher over her head and stared down at the beasts making their way up. She turned her head to Peridot and nodded. The green gem nodded in return and brought her arms down. With the weight of the injector increasing in her grasp, Garnet took her stance and threw the injector down the hole.

The drill went down first, knocking down a large amount of the horde. The rest of the injector was too wide to fit and remained as a cork. The sounds of hundreds of roars and snarls ceased as soon as the dust cleared. Peridot ran over to the injector and put her head against the glass. She could still hear the faint sounds of scratching from the bottom. Despite this, she knew there was no way of the monsters breaking out.

She turned back around and smiled widely with her teeth, "We made it!"

"That we did." Garnet replied with a small smile.

"It looks like your prediction was incorrect, 'future foreseer!'" Peridot quipped.

"We didn't get all of them, did we?" Garnet retorted.

Peridot frowned in return and waved it off. The two of them walked away from the injector and continued to make their way to the warp pad. The walk was much slower than before considering the events that had just happened.

"That was the second encounter and it wasn't even the original experiment." Peridot said intrigued, "There were no records of anything that could fly or produce fire."

"At least we know what we're up against." Garnet assured.

"We still haven't faced the original!" Peridot exclaimed fearfully, "If the last two types of gems are this formidable, imagine a 30-foot beast underg-"

"Peridot." Garnet interrupted. Peridot stopped dead in her tracks and looked up at Garnet. The gem leader knelt down and put a hand on her shoulder.

"As long as we all stick together, we'll take 'em." She reassured, "We simply need to get back to Beach City and regroup. When we come back, we'll have a better chance of bubbling all of them."

Peridot sighed and pondered this thought. They were up against something entirely new, but that's what they always do. The Crystal Gems are always ready for whatever is thrown at them be it big or small.

"Okay." She replied with a nod.

Garnet stood back up and gave her a thumbs up, "Now let's get back home."

As soon as they turned to walk down the path again, something stood in their way a few meters ahead. It was a lone Shrieker gem simply staring at them with its head frill raised. The pulsating light was a good sign that it could sense the light emitting from their gems. It closed its frill and grunted before giving out an ear-wracking shriek.

Peridot covered her ears painfully. Garnet popped her knuckles and took a stance, "Allow me." She stepped forward, but only a second afterward, something terrifying happened.

The ground beneath the Shrieker gave away before a colossal, beak-like mouth grasped it and swallowed it. The enormous Graboid gem roared with its tentacles out and smashed through the soft ground. The wave of dirt passing above it as it manuevered around them left them dead in their tracks. Peridot squealed and climbed up to the top of Garnet's head.

"It's here!" She screamed in fear.

Garnet hushed her and remained vigilant of the ground around them. She could hear the Graboid's movement under the ground. Garnet summoned her gauntlets and prepared for any surprise attack it had in store. After a few minutes, she raised her gauntlet and struck the ground in front of her with all the force she could muster. She did so one more time with the other gauntlet, causing the ground around them to shake violently.

The result of the attack had the Graboid popping its head out of the ground dazed. The fusion sighed in relief knowing her prediction of attack was true. Peridot jumped off her head and observed the creature from a distance. Although it was hard the see, the faint image of its gem resided on the side of one of its tongue tentacles. The Graboid moaned in slight pain in recoil of Garnet's strike to the ground. Peridot was confused, but mostly humored, at the sheer irony of the monster's choice of attack also being its weakness. She couldn't help but point at it mockingly, feeling hysterical.

"Aaahahahahahahahaha! _This_ is what we were anticipating prior?!" She chortled, "This is what Homeworld wasted their time and energy on?"

Peridot walked up to it while chuckling lightly. However, Garnet wasn't too keen on taking it so lightly.

"Peridot, don't get any closer!" Garbet warned.

"What's it gonna do?" Peridot inquired, "Sing about how much it's in pain? We know Pearl's got that covered."

Once she was close enough to touch its disoriented head, Peridot grinned and kicked it lightly. She received a low, painful groan from the Graboid. The Graboid was still dazed from the attack and showed no signs of retaliation anytime soon.

"Looks like you were right." Peridot said, turning around to face the fusion, "We can take these clods any time. Any wh-"

Before the green gem could finish her sentence, three tentacles shot out of the ground and wrapped around her legs. Peridot yelped as she fell to the ground with the tentacles beginning to bite down on her legs.

"Peridot!" Garnet exclaimed as she ran to her aid. Peridot winced from the pain but still had the strength to grasp onto the other Graboid's jaw and attempt to pull herself upward. The tentacles were relentless. Nothing could loosen their grip at this point...except for Garnet.

The gem leader reached down towards the tentacles and proceeded to tear them off one by one. Peridot scurried away as soon as the last tentacle was removed. The Graboid beneath them retracted its severed tentacles and burst through the ground in front of Garnet. This took her by surprise; the beast threw its head forward to seize Garnet within its jaws, but the fusion stopped it in time by pushing back its top jaw and pushing down its lower jaws.

Both gems struggled hard to overcome the other. Peridot watched in anticipation, rooting for Garnet the whole time. Despite all efforts, both were balanced in this stand off. However, this balance would soon break. Peridot tensed up at the sight or the ground being pushed back by Garnet's feet. It was evident that Garnet couldn't hold it back for long.

* * *

Rather than an infantry run for an attack, Burt chose a more excessive approach. Using his military truck, Burt thundered down the beach and around the city in the direction of the Shrieker gathering. In the event that he may run into the newly identified Graboid, be would come prepared with explosives of many kinds.

His eyes darted from the terrain in front of him to the radar. The Shrieker signals increased to a total of 14 and migrated further into the country. As for the Graboid, its direction was directed towards the Shriekers. This bewildered the survivalist. After all his years of hunting these animals, never before has behavior such as this happened.

"13 February. Beach City, Delmarva. Twenty-two hundred hours," Burt spoke into the small camera Travis had attached to the ceiling of the truck, "The situation at hand continues to slip out of mine every step of the way. In route to eliminate the Shriekers and single Graboid, the behavior of the Precambrian brutes eludes me."

Burt turned the wheel and rounded a corner into a path leading down from the beach to the countryside. The radar showed the continuous movement of both the Shrieker herd and Graboid into the country.

"Rather than seizing Beach City, one of which is rich in heat and sound, the creatures have migrated further north. A further mystery would be the correlation between the two species at this very moment." Burt added, "As the aforementioned Graboid closes the gap between it and the Shrieker herd, said Shriekers continue to avoid it. Could it be an act of cannibalistic hunting? I do not have the answer to that question at this time."

As soon as he ended his log, the tires of Burt's truck met the grass of countryside. He kicked it into high gear and increased his speed. Not long afterward did something unusual happen on the radar. The Graboid's course changed immediately and was set towards the road. The survivalist planned to fight the beast where it couldn't get him by turning to the road as well.

Once the tires met the road, the military vehicle's engine roared as the truck made its way. Burt kept a keen eye on the Graboid marker. There would have to be something making immense vibrations on the ground for the Graboid to divert away from the Shrieker herd.

The source of the vibrations made its presence clear in the form of a man with a megaphone. Burt recognized the man as Mayor Bill Dewey and groaned at the sight of two construction workers drilling in bolts at the top of a billboard. Bill's commands through the megaphone proved to be a nuisance at this time, especially for Burt.

"Let's hustle, people! We only have tonight to get this billboard secured!" Bill exclaimed through the megaphone, "What do you think I'm paying you for?"

"I'm not even getting paid!" One of the workers complained.

Burt stopped his truck in the middle of the road only a few meters away from the construction and stepped out. He speed-walked towards them waving his arms in the air to get their attention. The noise from the drills combined with Dewey's megaphone was too much, though. He continuously tried to get their attention, but none of them would turn their heads to see him.

After his third attempt at stopping them, Burt sighed angrily and pulled out his pistol. He raised it high into the air and pulled the trigger. The gunshot was loud enough to finally get everyone to stop what they were doing. The two construction works looked up at Burt while Bill flinched at the sound of the gunshot. Burt holstered his weapon and trudged over to Mayor Dewey.

"What the _Hell_ are you doing?!" Burt demanded sternly.

"You again?" Bill asked confusingly before straightening himself out, "Well fine tourist, I am simply improving my campaign ten fold!"

Bill gestured towards the billboard. Burt looked at and raised an eyebrow at the sheer simplicity of it. It was nothing but Mayor Dewey's toothy grin next to the words, "Re-elect Mayor Dewey." Mayor Dewey beamed at his billboard and elbowed Burt lightly in the arm.

"Isn't it great?" The mayor inquired, "The more tourists that come in, the more support I have for re-election! They'll just drive by and say, 'This man looks like a valuable entity to this town. He's got my vote!'"

"My guess is that you can lead a platoon into a minefield faster than you can run a city." Burt deadpanned, "Nevetheless, you need to shut this down and drive as far away as you can!"

"Why would I do that?" Dewey asked tentatively, "We're making great progress here!"

"You are putting you and these workers' lives at stake constructing this billboard," replied Burt, "now I suggest you all hightail it out of here before there will be several KIA's tonight!"

"Who do you think you're talking to?" Dewey asked in defiance, "I'm the mayor of this city and I say that this billboard _will_ be finished, and no stranger is going to tell me otherwise!"

"I'm not gonna stand here and argue with a balding Richard Nixon!" Burt retorted sternly, "You two! Relinquish your tools!"

"Unrelinquish your tools!" Mayor Dewey exclaimed after that.

"Negative! Drop 'em, now!"

"Hold them!"

"Drop them!"

"Hold!"

"Drop!"

"Hold!"

"Drop!"

"Drop!"

Bill's attempt at reverse psychology couldn't get past Burt. The survivalist shrugged and gave the two workers a thumbs up.

"You heard your mayor," said Burt in satisfaction, "drop 'em."

"That's-I didn't-I mean!" Dewey stuttered, "Drop those drills and I'll dock your pay!"

"Hold them and risk your lives!"

This tense exchange between the two of them went back and forth for what felt like an hour. First Kofi, then Mayor Dewey. At this rate, Burt would be arguing with himself over which gun to take into battle.

The two workers just watched confusingly over whom to listen to. One man had the power to relinquish their pay and the other looked like he could shoot both of them faster than they can say "donuts." As time passed between the two men bickering, the female worker tossed her drill up and caught it multiple times, bored out of her mind. The male leaned against the face of the billboard and turned his drill on and off while watching Burt and Dewey argue back and forth.

"All you government lackies are the same," said Burt in a degrading tone, "driving backwards on the road of progress and hitting every pot hole in the process!"

"I'm making progress!" Dewey retaliated, "It's just that I have right-winged psychos like you getting in the way!"

Before either of them could continue, the attack Burt anticipated finally happened. The male worker's 6th press of the drill's button would be his last. Without warning, a Graboid shot its head out of the ground and wrapped its jaws around one of the legs of the billboard. The two workers nearly fell off due to the force of the attack, but it was only beginning.

The Graboid violently yanked at the leg until it was ripped out of the dirt from the base. Burt aimed his pistol at the beast's head and fired round after round. Disturbingly to him, rather than being absorbed, the bullets deflected off of the Graboid's head like rocks off of metal. Mayor Dewey panicked at the sight of it and ran for his campaign vehicle.

"Get off the billboard!" Burt called towards the two workers, "Jump down!"

"Are you crazy?! I'm not jumping from this height!" The female worker exclaimed.

With the leg mangled beyond repair, the Graboid finally clamped down harder and ripped it out of the billboard's underside. The towering structure fell towards the earth as the Graboid circled around it. The workers held on to the outer edge of the platform they stood on to avoid a fatal fall on their account.

Dewey continuously attempted to start his van, but the engine failed to start. He prayed for it start working again and again but to no avail. Burt ran toward the edge of the road and scanned the area for a moving lump of ground. The workers remained on top of the edge platform; the Graboid seemed to have disappeared completely.

"Stay right there!" Burt exclaimed as he ran towards his truck for a more powerful weapon, "It can't reach you up there!"

"Nowhere else to go anyway, buddy!" The female worker yelled back with a mix of fear and sarcasm.

"What was that?!" Dewey asked fearfully, running towards Burt's truck after his third failed endeavor to start his van. The survivalist jumped into the back of his truck and searched through his weapons. The RPG would prove ineffective on account of accuracy. His rifles wouldn't be able to penetrate the thick skin of the Graboid. Only six minutes in until he finally found the needle in the hay stack: his Gizzly Big Boar. One shot would be enough to blow the top off that worm. Despite how powerful it was, Burt slung an AK-47 around his shoulder as a precaution.

He jumped back out to find a frightened Mayor Dewey sweating like crazy. Burt frowned and pushed past him ready to let some lead fly. Bill watched the old man leave and couldn't resist to peek through the curtain cover in the back of the truck. Burt's collection of guns sent a chill down his spine as he quickly brought the curtain back down.

"Good lord!" Dewey exclaimed quietly. He ran after Burt and saw that the workers were still staying as far away from the ground as possible. Burt took out his bronze anti-tank bullet and twisted it into the back end of his gun. The survivalist held the sniper firmly and kept his eyes peeled for the Graboid.

"What was that?" Dewey asked, still awaiting an answer.

"Quiet." Burt replied harshly.

"What was that thing?" The male worker asked loudly.

"Quiet!" Burt hissed.

Knowing that the old man wouldn't give them any answers, everyone went silent. Burt calmed himself and aimed towards the general area. The Graboid was still nowhere to be seen. Dewey was frozen in place. This wasn't the first time something abnormal happened in this town, but it was one of the few where he was in the middle of it.

Burt understood situations like this all too well. Someone gets ignorant, someone else pays the price, and he has to solve the issue first hand. Of course...he was never alone.

In the heat of the moment, the worst of inconveniences occurred. Dewey's phone rang loudly from inside his pocket, filling everyone with dread. The mayor fumbled with his phone trying to turn it off. Burt ran towards him and grabbed Dewey's phone. With no concern of where it would land, he threw the ringing phone as hard as he could. Unfortunately, the drop zone happened to be right in front of the face of the billboard.

"Oh shit." Burt quietly said in regret.

Not long after, the inevitable began. The Graboid rushed toward the sound of the incessant ringing, lunged its head forward, and smashed through the billboard. The workers fell to the ground hard after the remnants of the billboard were sent flying. Burt took aim immediately and pulled the trigger. The anti-tank bullet flew with such great force that it nearly threw Burt and Dewey off their feet. Much to his dismay, the bullet missed the beast by inches.

"Y-You missed!" Dewey stuttered in disbelief, "With a sniper!"

"Damn!" Burt exclaimed before throwing his gun to the ground, "Get to road, quick!"

The female worker quickly got to her feet and helped the other one up. The fall injured his ankle severely, prompting the woman to hang his arm around her shoulder and aid him in their escape. With the ringing no longer active, the Graboid circled back in the direction of the workers.

Burt held his AK in place of his Grizzly Big Boar and fired at the moving lump in the ground. The barrage of bullets wasn't enough to stop the Graboid. With the Graboid only a few meters away, Burt ceased fire and ran towards the edge of the road. He looked directly at the two workers and gestured for them to stop.

"Stop!" Burt whispered. The workers complied and froze in place. They held their breaths as soon as the Graboid circled around them slowly. With little to no vibrations, it was left in the depths of silence.

Burt quickly reloaded his gun for another attack. The survivalist made no haste in doing so now that the Graboid surfaces once again. Its terrifying appearance was enough to nearly make the two workers faint.

It was at this moment where Burt noticed something that he hadn't noticed before. As the Graboid opened its mouth to give a low roar, one of its tongues was missing while the others were slightly deformed. Burt knew very well that he's only cut off the tongue of one Graboid, and that Graboid was hunting them all down right now: Short Tongue.

"We meet again, you ugly bastard." Burt cursed under his breath.

Before he could get a good shot, their misfortune only got worse. The woman lost her grip on the man's arm and his full weight got to his ankle. He grunted in pain and fell to the ground. She tried to help him up, but it was all too late. Short Tongue smashed through the ground and darted towards the fallen man. In the blink of an eye, it shot out of the ground and engulfed him in its jaws. The man screamed in agony as the serrated jaws of the Graboid gnawed at his skin before swallowing him whole.

The woman stared in horror and ran past the surfaced beast. Mayor Dewey turned around and bent down to puke after witnessing the most gruesome death he'd ever seen. Burt squeezed the trigger of his gun and fired at the Graboid. Once again, just like the pistol, the bullets bounced off of it. The survivalist's eyes widened at this discovery of what could be a bullet-proof Graboid.

"The son of a bitch's got skin like titanium!" Burt marveled. The woman jumped onto the road and rolled towards the mayor's van. Short Tongue turned its head and bellowed a colossal roar. Burt aimed for the inside of its jaws and laid down fire. The bullets were of no effect, however. The beast burrowed beneath the ground and dug closer towards the road.

Dewey recovered from his nausea and stumbled toward his van. Burt ran towards his truck to find a weapon of a higher caliber. As for the traumatized woman, she slowly stood up and stared at the hole that once contained a colossal monster worm. She trembled at the thought of it returning and turned to get in the campaign vehicle. Dewey tried once more to start the van, but the engine continued to fail.

As the woman set her foot on the edge of the van's entrance, something inexplicable happened once again. From the edge of the road, the Graboid shot its head up and widened its jaws. From the back of its throat, something glowed and sent out an enormous tentacle with a starfish-like end filled with rows of razor-sharp teeth. The "mouth" sunk its teeth into the back of the woman and yanked her back towards the Graboid. Her scream was the last thing she could let out before suffering the same fate as her co-worker.

Burt witnessed the whole ordeal from beside his truck. He was left speechless at the terrifying sight of the monster's new ability. Dewey was just as shocked and horrified but was relieved to finally get his van started. He floored it and sped down the road, missing Burt's truck by inches. The old man wiped the sweat from his forehead and jumped into the front seat of his truck. If he couldn't kill it through gunfire, Burt would pop into six-wheel and run it down.

His eyes were locked onto the Graboid; his wheel was firmly grasped in his hands and his foot was ready to stomp on the gas pedal. The Graboid raised its head and turned towards the military truck. Though it lacked eyes, Burt could feel it peering into his soul.

Neither would have the chance for a duel, however. From the distance, a cluster of shrieks could be heard in great detail. Short Tongue growled in a low tone and burrowed back underground. Burt loosened his grip on the wheel and relaxed knowing the Graboid wouldn't be an issue for the remainder of the night. The survivalist jumped out of his truck and watched the beast's distance lengthen between it and the road.

"What in God's name are we up against?" Burt asked himself. He's seen Graboids that shoot out of the ground, but he's never seen one with the capability of shooting out a 4th tentacle to drag its prey into its very gullet. If that wasn't enough to comprehend, he couldn't even use a regular gun to slow it down.

He took off his cap and leaned against the side of his truck to recover from the incursion. A night meant for hunting Shriekers, and Short Tongue comes along to make matters worse. Burt knew that he couldn't handle this alone and planned to regroup with Travis and the others. Fortunately, they beat him to it.

"Burt!" Travis yelled from far away.

Burt turned around immediately but saw no sign of his son. He scratched his head in bewilderment and looked around. The old man assumed that the heat of the battle left him delirious, but what came next proved him wrong.

In the blink of an eye, Pearl and Amethyst landed right in front of him carrying Steven and Travis. This took Burt by surprise, but not enough to give him a heart attack. Pearl set Steven down gently while Amethyst practically dropped Travis on the road. The younger survivalist grunted in pain and annoyance.

"What the Hell!" He complained.

"Walk it off, ya wimp." Amethyst replied jokingly.

"We were looking for your truck before we ran into Mayor Dewey," said Steven, " He told us you guys got attacked!"

"How in the Hell did you do that?" Burt asked, still awestruck over their entrance to the scene.

"What happened here?" Pearl inquired, noticing the wreckage of the billboard and the hole left by Short Tongue. Travis whistled in surprise at the setting in front of them.

"Graboid incursion." Burt answered.

"Another one?!" Travis exclaimed with dread.

"Oh come on!" Amethyst complained, "We can't get a break!"

"We can take it!" Steven encouraged them, hoping to get everyone's spirits up.

"Our friend, Short Tongue's back." Burt added, turning back towards his truck.

"Who?" Travis and Steven asked simultaneously. Burt rolled his eyes and pulled out a case of C-4s from the back of his truck. The rest of the group, excluding Travis, peered inside his truck and observed the weaponry that filled up nearly three-fourths of the vehicle.

"It's like my dad's van." Steven said quietly, "Only...bigger..."

"Why did Travis want to find him so badly, again?" Amethyst asked with a spooked expression.

Deciding to transition to a more pressing matter, Pearl closed the curtain and walked towards Burt. The old man was busy filling his pockets with as many C-4s as he could carry. Travis joined him but took only one due to his lack of larger pockets.

"What exactly is your plan?" Pearl asked them.

"We move out ASAP and lure the Graboid to the surface." Burt replied, still focused on the C-4s, "Once it comes up, we blow that bastard back to Hell."

"That's what she said." Travis quipped, holding back a laugh. Not in the mood to hear bullshit, Burt smacked him in the stomach causing the younger man to fall backward.

"That's your plan?" Pearl asked, "Just blow them up where they stand?"

"What does this do?" Amethyst asked from behind the truck as she pulled out a sub machine gun. Steven ducked when the purple gem pointed it in several directions. As soon as he saw this, Burt got up and snatched the gun away from her.

"Hands off my gear!" Burt said harshly.

"Geez, dude." Amethyst said, putting her hands halfway up, "Chill out."

"I thought all the shit you had in the back of the truck would be enough, Gums." Travis asked with an arm wrapped around his hip.

"How much is in here?" Steven asked, peering into the truck once again. The young gem attempted to climb in but was too late when Burt carried him back down to the ground. He stashed the sub machine gun back in and closed the curtain.

"Surely there's a more tactical way to deal with these monsters," Pearl chimed in, "I mean, these creatures come from underground and you want to just play cat and mouse with them?"

Burt groaned after being hit with so many questions from all directions. He's worked with new people before, but never with so many before.

"I've fought these things for over 30 years. And there are two things about them that continue to elude me." Burt walked to the truck door to get the radar, Burt continued his analysis, "One is that these suckers metamorphose at random. You can never pinpoint a specific time and you can almost never pinpoint their location without frequency interference."

He grabbed the radar and observed it for any seismic vibrations. While the Shrieker herd continued to recede from the local area, they were nowhere near any other major city. What made the survivalist groan was the lack of any Graboid marker. Burt tossed the radar towards Pearl.

"Like I said."

The gems crowded around the radar to find nothing but a cluster of heat signatures far from their current location. Travis took a look at the radar himself and proceeded to shake it to get a better reading.

"Two is even worse than them evolving," said Burt, now focused on the group, "they get smarter the longer they're alive. Doesn't matter how effective a plan is. What matters is that you remain unpredictable before they do."

"How smart can they possibly be?" Pearl asked incredulously.

"Yeah, they don't even have eyes." Amethyst added.

"They may not have eyes, but they sure as Hell have brains. And they'll use it in any way they can, with whatever advancement they've got." Burt took off his cap and wiped away the sweat from his forehead, "This one just so happened to grow an extra tentacle. Practically fires it like a harpoon."

"That's...unsettling..." Steven said, sweating a little.

"Then let's get started." Travis said as he ran to the passenger's seat. Burt and the gems followed suit. The old man got in the driver's seat as Amethyst and Steven scrambled into the back of the truck. Pearl hesitated to get in due to the lack of large space; any available spots were simply too close to either an explosive or a large gun. Nevertheless, she entered anyway and sat close to the edge of the truck.

Burt revved up the engine and popped it into six wheel. The truck came alive again and made its way down the road. Burt took a sharp turn down the side of the road, resulting in the displacement of several of the inventory in the back. Pearl was blinded by one of Burt's thermal cloaks while Amethyst was hit in the eye with a revolver. The purple gem winced and angrily threw the gun at the side of the truck's tent frame. Steven managed to avoid the flying weaponry, even more than Travis who got hit in the head by a stray pistol.

"GAH! Slow it down, Pops!" Travis exclaimed. The trek through the field was short as Burt immediately stomped on the brake. The truck came to a complete stop, sending Amethyst and Steven ramming into the seats, Pearl onto the gun pile, and Travis' head slamming against the dashboard. All four of them moaned in painful unison.

"Not like that..." Travis said, massaging his head. Burt's focus was directed fully towards the radar. He pointed towards the colossal heat signature southeast of their location: the temple. It couldn't have been a Shrieker horde because their signatures always came in single variations. It couldn't have been Graboid because it gave no seismic readings. But whatever it was, it was too close to the city to ignore.

"You see that?" Burt asked.

"That's gotta be one giant-ass Shrieker." Travis said quietly with his eyes widened.

"That's at the temple!" Steven gasped.

Soooo...what?" Amethyst asked confusingly, "There's a giant red blob at the temple?"

Pearl pulled her head out of the weapons pile and scrambled over to the front. She observed the radar and took notice of the large, deep red heat signature. Her eyes widened as she immediately realized what it was.

"The house is on fire!" She exclaimed fearfully, grabbing her hair. The radar soon started to beep in rapid succession. Travis groaned at this.

"I swear to God. If it's another Graboid-"

"Uuuuuuuuuugggggghhhh!" Amethyst groaned.

Burt pinpointed the source of the alarm and found what he wished would've stayed in Perfection. The good news was that the Shrieker count decreased by two. The bad news was that the two Shriekers were something entirely different.

"Son of a bitch!" Burt exclaimed, "We got Ass Blasters!"

"Pfft-What kind of name is that?" Amethyst chuckled.

"Ask Jodi." Burt answered with an unamused expression.

"Are those like...Graboids or something?" Steven queried.

"The final stage, to be exact." Burt replied, turning the truck around, "Judging from the radar, they're heading straight for the fire."

"No shit." Travis deadpanned. The older man narrowed his eyebrows in response. They were this close into completing the mission and a total of three inconveniences had already occurred.

"We have to go back!" Steven exclaimed before hitting his head on the ceiling in panic, "Lion and Li'l Bud are still there!"

"Little wha?" Travis and Burt turned back in unison. It was then that Steven remembered what Garnet told him and tensed up.

"My...my stuffed animal! My precious Li'l Bud stuffy is in that fire!"

Pearl and Amethyst looked at him in confusion while Burt and Travis gave him a look that practically said, "Really?" With Steven's true reason hidden, he had to find a way to strengthen his excuse. He stared at them with a pleading expression. Burt blinked; the old man wasn't fazed by his malarkey. Steven forced himself to shed a single tear, receiving a more uncomfortable look from the survivalists.

"How old did you say he was?" Travis whispered to Amethyst. The purple gem scratched the back of her head trying to shrugged uncomfortably and looked at Burt. The survivalist sighed heavily and turned back to the wheel.

"Cute kid. I'll give ya that." Burt groaned quietly.

The old man turned the truck around and stepped on the gas pedal, this time taking the route into and through town. The further they went down the road, the more visible the smoke was from behind the uprising cliff.

* * *

The ground below Garnet couldn't handle the force exerted against the Graboid's opposing force. She was slowly being pushed back by the colossal worm, its ravenous jaws beginning to close down upon Garnet's hands. The back of its throat started to glow, yielding another attack. Everything seemed to play into the Graboid's favor. That was until a little green gem intervened.

A metal stick zoomed through the air and struck the Graboid in the head. The beast winced from the attack and raised its head high up in the air. Garnet took this opportunity to finally get a good hit on it. She raised her gauntlets and sent a barrage of rapid punches towards its body. Ite skin was tough, but the force sent it toppling backwards into the other Graboid. With the monsters subdued, Garnet dissipated her gauntlets and stretched. The strenuous course of events had finally taken its toll.

"Nice work." She complimented Peridot, not standing by her side.

"Wow. Thanks." Peridot replied exhaustingly.

The Graboids remained stunned where they laid. The two gems walked past them, knowing their work here was finally done. The monsters' distinct moans of pain echoed throughout the Kindergarten. The eerie sounds gave the place a more haunting theme than it already was.

"They'll be fine." Garnet said stoically.

* * *

 **There we go. Another chapter FINALLY done! As I said before, this one was kind of a rush job halfway through the month because I really wanted to finish this one so I can move on the next. Honestly, the next chapter is what I'll really find great interest in making because we get some not-so-nice interactions...again. I feel like I made Burt a little too heated with the locals, but I don't know.**

 **And no. The fire is not a plot hole, it's just part of the conflict that occurs next chapter.**

 **Thanks for reading this one, guys. I love the support. Look alive, stay alive. Idiot out!**


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